Gotham Tonight
by Waywatcher
Summary: Gotham's heroes are forced into nightly one-on-one fights with villains, and it's all being caught on camera and broadcast from an unknown location by The Joker, who seems to be setting up these events and showing them to everyone by hijacking the airwaves and putting on his own show called "Gotham Tonight". How will Gotham City's heroes stop these deadly duels?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

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><p><em><span><strong>Robin<strong>_

"End of the line Two-Face!"

My adopted father's deep voice rang out from beneath his cowl. The criminal he was addressing spun around in surprise.

"Not this time Batman!" Replies Dent. He whipped out a machine gun and started spraying. The bank we were in was soon riddled with bullet holes.

"When is he going to learn that a measly machine gun can't stop us?" I asked, almost laughing to my mentor.

"Don't get overconfident Robin." Said Batman. "You'll end up in trouble if you do." He leaps off the ridge we were hiding on and descends down onto the mob boss. He lands hard and both men go down to the floor, wrestling for control of the gun.

I take careful aim with my grappling hook and shoot it down into the fight. My hook smashes into the machine gun and I retract it, hauling the weapon up to me and out of the fight.

Batman manages to get a grip of Two-Face's collar and the former good guy is thrown across the room. I throw a freeze disk at the man and he is frozen to the ground.

Batman walks over to the downed villain and rummages through his pockets. He brings out a revolver, two knives, five thousand dollars in cash, and a disk file. My mentor leaves behind the money, the gun, and the knives for the police to get, but he takes the disk.

He walks silently out of the bank and I follow, excited for our victory. "We totally nailed him Batman! Taken down before he even knew what hit him!"

We walk over to where the Batmobile is hidden and I jump in.

"It's never that simple, Two-Face got captured too easily. Something else is going on." Batman broods as he hops in the driver's seat and we take off for the Batcave.

"Can't you ever just be happy that we won?" I mutter.

We speed back to the Batcave beneath Wayne manor. We enter the gloomy stone complex and are greeted by Alfred.

"Back so soon Master Bruce?" Asks the butler. "I would have assumed your battle would have lasted longer than five minutes." Batman doesn't answer, he just walks over to the main computer slips in the disk we obtained, and starts searching through the data.

"Ha. It was easy Alfred, we kicked his but in less than two! You should'a seen it!" I crow.

"Good job Master Timothy! I assume Master Bruce here wasn't satisfied with just a victory though?"

"No kidding Alfred, he didn't even crack a smile." We both look at the detective as he works at the computer with his back turned to us.

"I can't afford to let my guard down for an instant or something might take advantage of my momentary weakness." Bruce says, not even turning to look at us.

"Sometimes I worry about you Master Bruce." Alfred says. "You need some joy in your life or you'll end up a bitter old man."

"If that's what it takes to keep Gotham safe, than so be it."

Me and Alfred exchange a look. We sigh, knowing there is nothing we can do to change his mind. Alfred leaves to go get a meal. This is going to be a long night for Batman. I go to my room and shed my Robin costume to slip into my PJs. I hop into bed and look at the clock. 10:49. Not too incredibly late. I should still get enough sleep for school tomorrow.

My adrenaline rush has disappeared and I'm left exhausted. I fall asleep quickly.

_**Batman**_

I study the disk I got from Two-Face. It seems to be just the normal mob information. Names of the families who owe "protection" money, names of members who need to have "unfortunate accidents." But why would Two-Face carry around information this insignificant? It doesn't add up.

"Late night sustenance Master Bruce." Comes the voice of my most loyal friend.

"Thanks Alfred." I say. I pull off my cowl and take the cup of coffee from the tray that is now located next to me. I take a deep sip and allow the caffeine to flow through me, driving away my drowsiness. I take a banana and some cheese. The banana will give me long lasting energy, and the cheese will keep me full for longer, so I won't need to take breaks as frequently. I munch on these as I turn back to the computer screen.

"It just doesn't make sense." I say out loud; voicing my thoughts to my butler. "This is all just your normal mob information. Why would it be so important that Two-Face was carrying it around?"

"A code perhaps?" Suggests Alfred. "Or perhaps the disk itself serves another purpose?"

"I looked for codes and didn't come up with anything. But I never considered looking at the actual disk for other uses." I eject the disk from the Batcomputer and take it over to my lab. I pull out a few of my tools and put them on a tray, making sure they are within easy reach. I open a drawer and take out a microscope.

Placing the disk under he microscope I peer into the shaft. I see all the ridges and bumps that normal disks would have. Nothing unusual. I turn the disk over. Same thing. No difference. I try increasing the scale of the microscope. I zoom in closer to the disk and notice something I couldn't see before. Inside the ridges of the disk are other mini-ridges. It's basically disk within a disk, but you would need a special disk reader to get the information from the smaller ridges.

"Alfred, I'm going to need to talk to Lucius in the morning. Make sure I remember." I call.

"As you wish Master Bruce. Now if that's all, it is time for bed! You have an event to attend bright and early." My old friend ushers me upstairs to my room. I change out of my costume and slump into bed. I look at the clock. 1:43. I'm going to be tired today.

_**Two-Face**_

I don't put up a fight as I'm escorted to my cell at Arkham Asylum. I'm used to this by now, though that doesn't make it any more fun. I allow myself a small feeling of satisfaction as I reflect back on my performance. Rob a bank, get stopped by Batman. Make sure he can find the disk, but don't make it obvious. Get escorted to Arkham Asylum. Then just wait for everything to unfold.

I am tossed in my normal high security cell. The door is shut and locked behind me. I wait until the guards' footsteps are gone and start to laugh.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1 complete. This is my new story. Batman the Animated Series rather than Teen Titans. This chapter was just an into, hence how short it is. <strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

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><p><em><span><strong>Batman<strong>_

Alfred wakes me bright and early for breakfast and to attend the event. The event is apparently a fundraiser. Why anyone would hold a fundraiser at seven in the morning is beyond me. I scope out my day as I take a quick shower. I'll go to this event and stay for an hour, then I'll go into the office to talk to Lucius and manage Wayne Enterprises. At the end of the work day Lucius should have my order ready and I'll bring it to the Batcave to read the second park of the disk.

'Lets get this day over with so I can investigate already.' I think myself as I shave my morning fuzz. I dress myself and accept a coffee from Alfred, I also snag a bagel on my way out. I hop into the back seat of the limousine and Alfred drives us to the fundraiser.

_**Robin**_

My alarm goes off and I sit up, rubbing sleep from my eyes. I glance at the clock. 7:30 it reads. I take a moment to read a note left on my night stand.

_Gone to a fundraiser, your lunch is on the kitchen counter. I will be back upon your return from school. Master Bruce will not. - Alfred_

I sigh and prepare myself for school. I'll need to take the bus since Alfred isn't here to drive me. I pull on a light green shirt and a pale blue vest. I add grey jeans to complete my outfit. I slip on my same old, tattered, red and blue running shoes that I've had ever since Bruce adopted me.

I turn on the TV for a moment to see if there is anything significant to Tim Drake or Robin. A minor robbery here, a drug deal there, Mr Freeze has broken out of prison, there was-

Mr Freeze broke out of prison? I quickly rush to the phone and dial Bruce's cell. It rings once and he picks up.

"Not a good time Tim." Comes Bruce's voice. He is obviously trying to be quiet, I can hear someone giving a speech in the background.

"Freeze has broken out of prison." I say, cutting to the chase. I activate the recording device on the TV before continuing. "Breakout out occurred between one o clock and two last night. The guards were knocked out, the next shift found them unconscious when they came to switch. The lock on his cell was picked. Rather subtle for Freeze."

"That is uncharacteristic." Bruce replies. "We'll investigate it when I get back. You need to head off to school."

"Fine, see you later." I hang up the phone and bolt out of the house, grabbing my lunch and backpack along the way.

_**Batman**_

Tim hangs up the phone and I turn my head back to the speaker, but I'm no longer paying attention. Tim said Mr Freeze broke out of his cell, but considering the method of escape, I highly doubt Freeze broke himself out. Someone else must have arranged for his escape, but why?

I politely applaud the speaker as he finishes. I hover around the buffet as I ponder numerous people who might want Freeze and their possible motives. Eventually an hour passes and I excuse myself from the event. I walk down to the limousine and I tell Alfred to drive me to the Wayne Enterprises office building. I bounce a few ideas off Alfred as we drive and am forced to stop as we arrive at our destination. I exit the vehicle and Alfred drives off. Probably going home for some tea and biscuits before starting his daily cleaning routine.

I enter the large skyscraper and greet the security guards. I hop into the elevator and hit my desired floor. I reach my office and greet my secretary. She informs me of the numerous meetings and paper I must attend to. I ask her to delay my schedule by five minutes and I enter my office. I call Lucius Fox. I tell him the specifications of the device I need and he agrees to have it made by the end of the day. I say goodbye and hang up.

I straighten my tie and exit for my first meeting. Time to waste precious hours on "real problems" when I could be finding Freeze.

_**Robin**_

I drag myself through the school day. Math, science, english, social studies; they all blur together as I continuously glance at the clock, waiting to go home and find out more details on Freeze's breakout. The bell finally rings, signaling the end of school. I rush outside and spot the limousine in the parking lot. I run over and Alfred opens the door to let me in the back. I wait impatiently as we drive home.

"Alfred, was there any more news on Freeze?" I ask, unable to contain my impatience.

"No Master Timothy, they haven't seen hide nor hair of him, and the police have no leads to go off of." Alfred informs me.

"Well, there are only so many places that Mr. Freeze will hide. He always bases himself in somewhere cold."

"You're assuming that he was behind his escape in the first place. If someone else broke him out, then he might be hiding wherever they tell him to."

I consider this for a moment as we pull into the driveway. I quickly put all my school stuff away and race down to the Batcave. I bring up a list of villains currently at large and try to figure out is any of them might have a reason to break Mr. Feeeze out of Arkham. I sort and search for hours. I don't even notice Bruce come down, and I jump in surprise when I feel his hand on my shoulder.

He looks at the screen and the notes I've made on the Freeze situation. He nods a few times but gives slight frowns of disagreement other times. I let him take his seat and he starts his own notes, coping some things from mine but changing or flat out ignore other parts. He also expands the list slightly.

Alfred comes down carrying an odd looking device. It is a small rectangular prism, apparently an external disk drive. Bruce quickly explains about the ridges of the disk we found and hooks up the drive to the Batcomputer. He slips in the disk and flips a switch. The main screen switches to display the information on the mini-ridges. It's a video file. Batman hits "play."

"Heya Bats." Comes a raspy voice as Two-Face fills the screen. "I knew you'd figure it out eventually, but little did you know, I wanted you to find this file. Here's the thing. By the time your watching this I bet Freeze is already out. You're having a hard time guessing why someone would break him out. Well, I know where the guy will be. He's gonna be stealing some Wayne tech tonight at midnight. Have fun stopping him. Why am I telling you this you ask? Why was it worth coming to jail just to deliver a secret message that helps you?" Two-Face laughs. "The next few weeks are gonna be a doozy for you bat freaks. And to answer the questions, I'm getting lots of benefits for being in my position. Have fun, Batman." The screen goes blank.

There is a moment of silence as we process the message. The next few weeks are gonna give the Bat-family problems? What sort of problems? What benefits is Two-Face getting?

"What do you think his angle is Batman?" I ask, going into Robin mode.

"Two-Face is the messenger and Freeze is the introduction. Someone is getting two super villain's to do his dirty work."

"Or maybe multiple villain's are working together?" I suggest.

"We have no way of finding out until we get some more information. We eat dinner and leave in fifteen minutes." Comes the order. I nod and rush upstairs to alert Alfred.

_**Batman**_

Arkham Asylum comes into sight as we drive along in the Batmobile. It's only 8:00, we still have plenty of time to question Two-Face before we need to leave in order to apprehend Freeze.

Assuming Two-Face was telling the truth in the first place.

I park the Batmobile in an alley a few minutes away from Arkham. Me and Robin grab our grapple guns and fire them skyward. We swing across the sky towards the Asylum.

Bypassing security, we make our way through the dimly lit corridors. We avoid another security guard and are soon standing righting front of Two-Face's cell.

The figure inside is sitting upright looking straight at us, face shrouded in darkness. "Hello again Batman, come to visit me? I'm touched."

"You know why I'm here Dent." I reply.

"Oh, of course I do. The video message on the disk, right? You won't get anything out of me though."

"I think I will" I growl menacingly.

"I don't think so." Says the figure, leaning forward. We see a robot duplicate of Two-Face. The ruined eye has a countdown in it, which is currently lowering from 5 seconds.

"Surprise jackass."

I pull Robin under my cape as the robot explodes. A few pieces of shrapnel bounce off my cloak and I peer out to assess the damage. Two-Face's cell is scorched and the bars are broken. There are pieces of the robot lying all over.

We hear footsteps approaching and I quickly pick up a few pieces of the robot. I stash them away in a slot in my utility belt. We hide in the shadows as the guards come. I hear one of the guards placings call to the police. Good, I need to talk to James. I quickly motion to Robin and we hop over the guards' heads when they aren't paying attention. We change our hiding place to the rafters above the scene and we wait for Gotham PD to arrive.

James is the first to arrive. He rushes to the scene with Harvey Bullock by his side. He orders the area cleared so that he can search it and Bullock goes about making it happen. I drop down from the roof and land behind the police commissioner, Robin follows suit.

"What do you think commissioner?" I ask.

"Geeze, do you have to pop out of nowhere like that?" James says.

I raise an eyebrow.

"Of course you do. Well, it seems that Two-Face managed to get out without breaking anything, the only damage is by the robot exploding, and that's no small feat. Normally at least the lock is broken, like in the Freeze case, but the tapes show that everything was intact before your little chat. But not only did he manage to get out undetected, he managed to slip this robot in."

"What can you give me?" I question.

"I wish I could help you Batman, but I'm not sure what to think of this. I'll put up the signal if I figure anything out." Gordon says, sighing. "Anything you can tell me Batman?" He turn around, but we have already disappeared.

"Would it kill the guy to stick around?" He mutters.

"What now Batman?" Robin asks in his high voice.

"We go get Freeze." I say, pointing at the clock.

11:54. We wasted much more time than I anticipated, but infiltrating Arkham is never quick. We rush back to the Batmobile and speed off to the Wayne Enterprises building.

We arrive to find the that front door is no longer there. Ice coats the area around it. I look at the readout in my cowl. 12:03. We got here just a bit too late. If we just hadn't wasted time on Two-Face... No time for self pity.

"Let's move." I say. Robin follows me as we enter through the icy doorway.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2 complete. Time to get frosty. <strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

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><p><em><strong>Gotham Tonight<strong>_

"Hello everyone! We preempt your normal late night shows to bring you the first ever episode of Gotham Tonight, hosted by me, The Joker! Clown Prince of Crime, and now TV Star!" The camera pans out to reveal The Joker sitting in a plush green chair. He is wearing a blue suit with black dress pants, also, he has a squirting flower in his chest pocket. The room around him is dark, nothing but him and his chair are visible.

"Now I know what your asking, why would I want a TV show all to myself? Well that's simple! This way I can bring entertainment to the masses by showing the drama of combat that happens daily as our local heroes fight for their lives! HAHAHAHAHA!" The Joker bursts into an uncontrollable fit of laughter that lasts for a few minutes. He eventually calms down enough to continue.

"This time, seeing this is our first episode, I figured we should have Batman as our hero of the night! As for our featured baddie, we have Mr Freeze." Multiple screens pop up around The Joker showing Mr Freeze's break in of Wayne Enterprises along with Batman and Robin's approach through the front door.

"Of course, we need Robin out of the picture to make this a proper one on one, but I've already alerted Freeze to this condition and he will make sure the main event is uninterrupted."

The screen starts zooming into one camera that gives a general view of the situation. The Joker starts laughing again.

"Let's watch the fun, shall we?"

_**Batman**_

Me and Robin run through the front door. Almost instantly we are forced to drop to the floor as a beam from Freeze's ice gun flies through the area previously occupied by our upper bodies.

"Hello, Batman. Good to see you decided to show up. It would be a shame to ruin the first episode." Freeze says, greeting me in his cold, emotionless voice.

"Episode?" Robin asks, "Episode of what?"

"You're not part of the show tonight Boy Wonder. You will have to wait your turn." Freeze sends a beam flying at Robin that forces him to leap back. Mr Freeze quickly encases the entrance to the building in a sheet of ice. "That's better, now the main event can take place."

"Main event of what?" I demand, dropping into a fighting stance.

"Gotham Tonight of course." Says Mr Freeze. He swings his gun around and fires a beam. I roll out of the way and launch a batarang at his gun. He freezes my projectile midair. "I expected more Batman." He launches a few more blasts. I manage to avoid them, but the ground is now almost completely coated in ice.

"It's not like you to do someone else's dirty work Freeze, what does they have on you?" I ask.

"Money, a chance to eliminate you, a cure for my condition, and a chance to help my beloved." Says Freeze. He takes careful aim at me.

"What makes you think they will follow through with their promise? They are almost certainly much less honest than you are." I remind him.

"Perhaps, but they did give me the chance to terminate you, even if I have to leave your partner." He fires a quick shot. I duck behind a counter. The blast hits the wall behind where I was just standing.

"So come out Batman, give the folks a show. We are being recorded you know. At least go down fighting." He fires a few shots at the counter I'm taking cover behind as he approaches slowly. I slip my hand into my utility belt and pull out a few specific pellets.

I hear a footstep only a meter away from my hiding place and I launch myself into action. I leap up and over Freeze, dropping smoke pellets as I do. The room quickly fills up with smoke. I use the infrared sensor in my cowl to locate Mr Freeze, he is colder than the rest of the room. I take out a batarang and throw it at his helmet. There is a cracking noise as a hole is broken in the glass.

"What are you doing Batman? This will not save you." Comes the angry remark. I pull out another special of pellet. As I respond.

"You're right, but this will." I roll to the side as Freeze spots in the direction of my voice. I toss my special pellets at the hole in Mr Freeze's helmet. They fly in and activate. They fill his helmet with water that quickly freezes due to his suit's internal coolers.

I walk over to Freeze who is now immobile due to his head being stuck in a block of ice. He might need keep his temperature below freezing all the time, but he can't fight with his head frozen.

There is a cracking noise as the ice blocking the entrance starts to break. A moment later the barrier is broken down by Robin.

"What did I miss?" He asks.

_**Gotham Tonight**_

The screen pans out from the battle scene and once again shows The Joker sitting in his chair.

"Well that was disappointing, but at least it was entertaining! Mr Freeze got put on ice by The Batman. Looks like it's back to Arkham for you Mr cold shoulder!" The Joker gives a laugh before continuing. "Well, that's our event for tonight! Make sure to keep your television on tomorrow for our next episode! Toodeloo!" The transmission ends and every television in Gotham is returned to it's previous show.

_**Robin**_

"Wait, Mr Freeze was doing that because of a TV show?" I ask incredulously.

"Joker must have put him up to it." Batman says, reviewing the transmission of "Gotham Tonight" that Alfred recorded for us. "He makes it sound like these fights are going to be nightly events. We need to be on our guard."

"Like we aren't always?" I joke. I become a bit more serious as I ask "Have you traced Joker's signal?"

"No luck. He routes it through so many things that the Batcomputer couldn't locate the original broadcast point in time." Batman explains, clearly frustrated.

"So we just need to drag out the next fight for longer to give the Batcomputer time to locate the broadcast point?" I suggest.

"That might work, but it's a risky plan." Batman responds. "And Joker probably expects something like that. We need another strategy."

"If I may Master Bruce; perhaps finding Two-Face may give you more information? He did set you up to fight Mr Freeze, so it's anyone's guess what else he might know about this strange new arrangement." Alfred says.

"That's a good idea Alfred, finding Two-Face will give us more information, and we can avoid Joker's next arranged fight." Batman says with determination.

"Unless he's expecting that too." I say quietly.

_**Batman**_

My first order of business upon learning about Gotham Tonight was to alert Batgirl and Nightwing of the possible danger. Nightwing could be in Jump City or Blüdhaven, but Joker would find a way to drag him into Gotham. I have these messages sent out as soon as I wake up the next morning, I don't want to interrupt them if they are sleeping, so I didn't send them right away.

I quickly get a message from Barbara saying that her Father and the PD detectives had been up all night trying to locate the signal from Gotham Tonight, but had no luck. She also mentioned that all signal relays are going to have special programs installed to trace Joker's signal if it comes through again.

That might help, but if the Batcomputer couldn't trace the signal, I doubt Gotham PD can. I don't mention this however, because nothing is worse than feeling useless, so even if the police aren't really helping, it boosts moral if they think they have a chance.

Tim races out the door for school and Alfred drives him. They pull out of the driveway in the black limousine. I nod to myself, time to get to work. I call into the office saying I'm sick. Hopefully the board of directors will buy that.

I rush down to the Batcave and start searching through recent reports and sightings. I'm looking for any information on Two-Face since he broke out. Sadly, there isn't much information on him since his breakout was only yesterday.

A caller ID pops up on the corner of my screen indicating I have an incoming call. It's from Titan's Tower, calling the Batcave.

I pull on my suit and click accept. A video link is established between our two computers.

"Beast Boy cut it out, I'm trying to call someone!" Comes my former protégé's irritated voice as he pops up on the screen. His head is facing sideways as he hollers at his green teammate.

"Ahem." I say, clearing my throat.

"Ah!" Nightwing jumps slightly. "Didn't...hear the call go through." He says weakly.

"Sure you didn't. I assume this call is about the message I sent?" I transition gracelessly from one subject to the next.

"Yes. I saw a the recording of Gotham Tonight you sent me. I had the Tower trace the signal but it couldn't locate it."

"Neither could the Batcomputer or Gotham PD." I say.

"Cyborg even tried hacking television relays but couldn't get any results."

That surprises me slightly. Cyborg might be young, but his technical knowledge surpasses even mine. So for him not to be able to find anything is worrying.

"That is unfortunate. But my main concern is that Joker might try and drag you into this twisted game of his. You can't come to Gotham no matter what." I say, putting my foot down before the issue ever comes up.

"You think I'll just sit around while the rest of the Bat family is attacked? Not likely." He replies. Stubborn as usual.

"I don't need you or the Titans getting involved in this."

"Then you shouldn't have sent me that message in the first place. You wouldn't have sent me anything if it wasn't serious. I'm coming to Gotham."

I sigh, but I know he's right. I would not have contacted him if I didn't fear it was to dangerous, but at the same time, contacting him would alert him of the problem. We always have this strange battle of words when something like this happens, and somehow this is the only type of verbal fight I can never win against him.

"At least tell me when you're coming so I can make sure you arrive safely." I give in swiftly, I do need his help, even if I won't admit it.

"I'm leaving immediately." He turns sideways and calls out to his semi-robotic friend. "Cyborg, I need to go to Gotham for a while, not sure how long. You take charge when I'm gone, call in Kid Flash and Jinx if you need help. Yes, I'm taking the Night-Cycle. No, Beast Boy, you can't use the extra. Raven, keep him in line please. Yes. Yes. I'm sorry Star, but I need to help. Yes. Thanks for understanding."

I wait patiently as he addresses each of his friends' concerns and questions. He turns back to me upon completing this slightly lengthy ordeal.

"I'll leave in five minutes, expect me in Gotham by noon."

I nod. "We'll talk more then." I terminate the transmission.

"He has a way of turning your "stay away" talks into "you need my help" conversations doesn't he?" Alfred comments. He must have returned from bringing Tim to school already.

"What bothers me most is that he makes better points than I do." I mutter as I return to trying to find Two-Face.

"I suppose he has had better practice, he must have those kinds of conversations with his friends quite frequently, that, or he takes what his friends say to him and uses it on you." Alfred says. I swear I can hear him chuckling as he dusts the Trophy Room.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3 complete. When there's trouble, apparently even Batman knows who to call. <strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

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><p><span><strong>Nightwing<strong>

The gloomy and grimy Gotham City fills my sight. It's tall, dark spires are familiar to me. I zoom towards it at top speed. I swerve between other vehicles on the road and get a few angry honks, but I ignore them. I have more important things to do than argue with annoyed civilians.

When I enter the city limits I turn onto the first side road I find. No need to broadcast my arrival more than I already have. I drive for a few more minutes in Gotham's back alleys and eventually come to a rather run down open area. The ground is made of dirt, the buildings around me are crumbling, and there are wodden beams, dumpsters, and tires all around me. This is where Batman said to rendezvous.

I hear motors behind me. I turn my head to see tattooed and pierced bikers driving down the alley I had entered through. They drive into the clearing with me and begin circling.

"Rather confident are we? Looking for trouble?" I ask, confident that they pose no threat.

"You bet we are night-freak! This is revenge on the Bat family for the beating the cocky brat gave us!" Hollers the closest biker. The others yell out their agreement.

I focus on the closest biker. He's obviously the leader. I rev the engine of the Night-Cycle and slowly accelerate. I circle in the opposite direction of the leader, staying on the inside of the gang. I watch the them carefully as I considered the leader's words. He called this "revenge". And judging by the "cocky brat" comment, Robin must have beaten the snot out of them.

I grin and turn my head to look at the leader as we cross paths. "If you couldn't beat Robin than how do you plan on beating me?" I ask, calling them out.

The leader just glares, but the rest of the gang wavers a bit.

"Ermm Jatt?" One of them says weakly. "How DO we plan on beating him?"

The leader, Jatt, glares at the offending man and replies with venom in his voice. "We shoot him with our fancy pistols. The ones we got a week ago, REMEMBER?"

I'm now glad I didn't charge right into combat, or else I might be riddled with bullet holes. I assessment the situation. I'm in a wide open area and the bikers are blocking a quick escape. If I stay where I am I'll be a sitting duck, but if I move then they will cut me off and I'll be in even more trouble. Smoke pellets help me a bit, but I would still be caught in the cross fire.

The bikers continue to circle, but they let one hand go from their handlebars and drew their pistols in the other.

I quickly came up with a plan. I drew three freeze disks in each hand and smashed them onto the ground on either side of me. A small wall of ice rose up to about waist height. I skidded to a stop and turned the Night-Cycle on it's side to block off another angle. I quickly tossed a few more freeze disks to the last opening and crouched down in my make shift bunker.

I hear loud bangs as the bikers fire their weapons. Only a few manage to actually hit my bunker. The gang members obviously aren't used to shooting a weapon, and needing to aim while on a moving bike doesn't help them much either.

I take advantage of my cover and lob a few smoke pellets over the side. I hear yelling and a crash as I attempt to stifle my laughter. This is laughably easy. I risk a glance over the rim of the ice. Most of the bikers are in a heap from running into each other. The others are peering away in fear.

There is a cry from directly behind me and I whirl around. The gang leader, off his bike to sneak up on me, is clutching his hand in pain. I see his pistol lying on the ground and ways away with a batarang sticking out of it. I sock Jatt in the face and he crumpled to the ground. I hear the rustle of a cape as Batman drops down beside me.

"Getting a bit sloppy are we?" He asks. "He almost got the jump on you."

"I was prepared." I say. I smirk as I point to a small glue pellet I had tossed into the gun's barrel when I heard him coming up behind me. If the gun had been fired than the glue pellet would have burst and stopped the bullet, probably making the weapon shatter from the force.

Batman raises an eyebrow, but nods his approval. We look at the downed thugs and set to work tying them up. We finish in a minute's time and we are soon riding to the Batcave. I drive along behind the Batmobile and contemplate the situation I've brought myself into.

I'm back in Gotham, for better or for worse. I will likely be facing off against some of Gotham's worst. I won't have the benefit of super human, arcane, or primal backup like I normally do with the Titans. I will, however, be working with other highly trained Bat clan members who will know all of the practiced signals and strategies used by the Bat family.

We near one of the Batcave's secret entrances and I subconsciously drive up beside the Batmobile in order to keep the entrance open for as little time as possible. We drive into the abandoned train tunnel and a section of the wall parts to reveal the passageway. We blast into it at full speed and I closes behind us just as fast.

I feel the familiar smoothness of the inner passages belonging to the network of tunnels connecting to the lair under Wayne manor. The Batmobile roars into it's place on a small rotating platform. I park the Night-Cycle just a bit off to the side so as to not be in the way.

"Hello master Dick. I am overjoyed to see you have arrived unharmed. I already prepared your room, and lunch is on the table upstairs for both of you. I imagine your starving master Dick; haven't eaten since breakfast probably, and I know master Bruce has refused to eat since last night. He's been trying to find Two-Face."

"Thanks Alfred. You have no idea how good it is to see you again." I say warmly, removing my mask. Turning to Bruce, who has also removed his mask, I chide. "You can't go working yourself to the bone on the first night Bruce, we need you whole and healthy."

"I'm not the only one guilty of obsessions Dick." He points out. I grimace as I recall a certain villain by the name of Slade A.K.A Deathstroke the Terminator. "But I agree that I can't afford to wear myself out. I'll be relying on you and Alfred to stop me from doing that."

I'm somewhat startled by this. Bruce is relying on me for something? What's more, he admitted his own weakness!? Apparently time and interaction with the justice league, myself, Tim, and many others has opened up the Dark knight a bit.

'There's hope for him yet.' I think to myself, nodding my promise to help. 'Maybe he'll even consider finding someone special at some point. God knows it would do him a world of good. I know it helped me be less obsessive." I'm momentarily lost in thoughts of a certain red haired, orange skinned, green eyed alien before I shake myself out of my musings. No time for memories now unless they help with our current issue.

I trudge up the stairs of the gloomy Batcave and exit. I appear out from behind the fire place in the library and walk to the dining room where Alfred has set out a feast.

"I thought this was supposed to be lunch for two Alfred, not an entire army's supply!" I joke.

"As I said before, master Bruce hasn't eaten since yesterday, and neither have I for that matter. I had to drive Master Timothy to school and I have been helping with the investigation before I started the food. So I figured it would be prudent to make enough for all of us. Perhaps a bit extra just in case."

"I understand that Alfred, but seriously? FIVE plates of bacon?"

**Batman**

Lunch is a noisy affair despite it only being between the three of us. Dick talks non-stop about everything. He is obviously proud of how far he has come and spares no expense to flaunt his achievements and those of his team. Under other circumstances I might consider this annoying, but I know that right now he is just nervous about being away from the Titans. They are as much a part of his family as I and Alfred are.

I consider how to incorporate him into my plans. I know he's going to need a day or two to get used to working with the Bat clan again, he's been somewhat out of the loop from us for a few years now. He has always been more of a fighter than a detective, not to say his investigation skills are lacking, but he he fights more super powered foes in a week than I do in two months. I expect him to be more of a bruiser than engage in espionage for my plans.

I study my former protégé as he rambles on and on. He has grown since he left all those years ago. He is taller, about as tall as me. He is built a bit more lithe than me due to his reliance on acrobatics in combat. He obviously still takes practice very seriously, something other heroes could learn from him. I would teach others about being more serious, but they would just ignore me as being obsessive and dark. Though Dick is guilty of those very same things, others look on him as a leader rather than a loner, so they listen to him.

I gulp down some of Alfred's delicious eggs and sit back. My stomach is quite full. I give myself a moment of calm. The storm is coming, and moments like these will be scarce.

"As much as I would love to just sit here and catch up, we need to get to work. I'll fill you in on all the details." I say, my voice serious.

Dick stops talking abruptly and nods. His visage goes from bright and cheerful, if nervous, to serious and steeled.

Me and Dick walk back down to the Batcave as Alfred cleans up. I glance at the clock on the Batcomputer. 1:45. Three hours and Tim will be home. I'll call Barbara and get her to come over as soon as possible. Once everyone is assembled I'll tell them the plan. We are going to be out in the city, but we are going to stick together. The best way to stop these one on one fights will be to not allow them to be one on one at all.

Dick and myself sit down at the Batcomputer and I start giving him a full analysis on the situation. I also go through all the information and potential leads I've found. He is silent as he listens to me, his face absent of emotion. He interrupts occasionally to ask clarification, but otherwise the next two hours pass with just the sound of voice reverberating around the Batcave.

Once I finish giving him all the information he leans back in his seat. There is silence for a few moments before he speaks.

"So basically, we have almost no idea where Two-Face is, but we know that he is invested in Gotham Tonight for some reason." I nod. "My guess is that he will let himself be found. Dent will be the one leading us to the next fight." Dick says with certainty.

I consider this. It makes sense. I had thought of it before, but I always try to keep my mind open. Dick is used to working with the Titans; four very tough individuals. He can afford to run into a situation on a hunch because his team is strong enough to take a beating. That isn't the case with the Bat clan. We are all more resilient the than the average human, but we aren't tough enough to take bullet shots. We excel in stealth and agile combat.

"While I agree that your analysis is the most likely, we must keep our eyes open to there possibilities." I remind him. He grimaces and nods. Not liking to show his faults in front of me. "For now, we should make a plan. Tim will be home in a few hours, and we will summon Barbara at that same time. I want to be able to get working as soon as we can".

We both turn to the Bat computer and start working. We exchange ideas and possible strategies as we wait for the return of Tim.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4 complete. <strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

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><p><span><strong>Robin<strong>

"I'm home!" I cry as I hop out of the limousine and rush up to the mansions door. I toss it open to find no one. I'm not surprised, Bruce is almost never home at this time. I just shout the words because I feel like it.

"Welcome back." Says a deep voice from behind me. Alfred is still locking the limo, and it doesn't sound like Bruce...

I whip around and take a step away from the figure. I calm upon realizing who it is but frown upon seeing his amused smirk.

"Jumpy aren't we?" He asks, grinning.

"At least I don't have to be carried everywhere. Isn't that what happens when you go out of missions with the Titans?" I retort, joining in on the game.

"Ahh, but that is because I have teammates willing to lend me a hand, where are your alien friends?"

"In the closet." I say seriously. "I keep them around in case the lightbulbs decide to revolt against the tyranny of the duster and last Friday's leftover lasagna."

Dick snorts. "I honestly wasn't expecting that." He remarks, grinning.

"Few people do." I point out.

"I must concede a loss this round." He holds his arms up in the air.

"I claim victory then!" I say triumphantly. "Now... What should be my prize?"

Dick sighs "There isn't a prize."

"You don't even know what I had in mind!"

"And I don't want to."

"C'mon. Consider it a challenge."

Silence for quite few seconds. "What's your idea?"

"I get to ask you any question within reason and you must answer truthfully. That's my prize."

He mulls it over a bit, apparently deciding weather to risk me asking an embarrassing question. He smiles "I bet I can find a way to answer your question without truly giving an answer, so shoot."

"When do you plan on finally tying the knot?" I ask teasingly. Dick recoils and flushes red to the tips of his ears.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He denies, fidgeting.

"Uh huh." I say. "So those last three years where you've been dating a certain orange skinned alien don't mean squat?"

"What!?" I never said that!" He cries indignantly.

"I asked when you PLAN on tying the knot, you're allowed to give me a time frame. So much for you avoiding a real answer." I cross my arms and wait, thoroughly enjoying my adopted brother's discomfort.

Dick opens his mouth and lets out a frustrated growl. He runs his hand through his hair as he tries to find a way to avoid the question.

My moment of satisfaction is interrupted by a cough from the doorway, we both turn to the side to see Bruce standing there.

"As interesting as this conversation is." Bruce looks at Dick with suspicion upon saying this, "We need to get prepared for our search. I've already called Barbara over."

We both nod and follow our father inside. As we approach one of the Batcave's entrances I turn to Dick and whisper "I expect an answer at some point, don't forget." He gulps, and we descend into the dank cave.

**Batgirl**

"Bye dad! I'm going to Wayne's to tutor Tim again!" I call.

"Be back before nine!" my father calls out. "No detours!"

I rush out the door with my backpack before he can give me additional restrictions. I hop into the limousine waiting around the corner.

"Thanks for the ride Alfred." I say.

"My pleasure Miss Gorden." He replies smoothly. He puts his foot to the gas and we drive off.

The drive to Wayne manor doesn't take long. Only ten minutes or so. We move through the crowded and dirty streets of Gotham, taking the main roads as would be expected of a high-class vehicle. I glance at a large clock tower. 4:30. Bruce said that we had a big mission tonight and we might be out for a long time.

Guess who's not getting back by nine?

I sigh. "Looks like I'm getting yelled at tonight for not being home by nine huh Alfred?"

"I'm sure I'll think of some reason for you to need to stay so long. Just leave it to me young lady." Alfred reassures me.

I smile. Alfred holds a special place in the heart of every bat clan member, and I'm no exception. I feel a surge of gratitude towards Bruce's most loyal friend.

"Thanks Alfred." I say.

"Always happy to help Miss Gorden."

The momentum of the vehicle comes to a halt as we pull into Wayne manor's driveway. Alfred quickly leads me inside. I rush over to the grandfather clock an press a panel in the wall beside it. The old clock slides aside to reveal a stone stairway leasing down to the Batcave.

I rush down the stairway and into the familiar base of operations. I spot all three of my male allies huddled around the computer and join them. I take a look at the screen. Two-Face is everywhere.

"I guess we're hunting tonight?" I ask, almost rhetorically.

"No, we're all going out for ice cream and discussions on how funny Two-Face's shoes look." Dick answers sarcastically. He shoots me a lopsided grin. My heart beats a bit faster, but I ignore it. Dick is taken now, I already had my chance.

Doesn't mean it isn't damn annoying though.

"I didn't manage to find many leads on Two-Face." Bruce confesses, clearly irritated. "But, as Dick suggested earlier, he will probably show himself in order to lure one of us into the next fight. So don't go anywhere by yourself, and be wary of any situation. Two-Face is the most LIKELY lure, but not necessarily the only one."

We all nod.

"We'll split into two teams to cover more ground. Dick and I will start in downtown Gotham and work our way clockwise around the city from there. Barbara, Tim, you two will start around here and follow the same pattern. Both teams will complete three laps of the city before meeting above city center. We'll narrow our search if we haven't found anything by then. Are we clear?" He barks the question at the end.

"Yup." Tim chirps.

"Got it." Dick says. His face shows his cocky confidence.

"Sir yes sir!" I joke, saluting.

"Then suit up everyone. Time to catch a mob boss."

**Nightwing**

It's been a while since I went on patrol. Well, this isn't really a patrol, more of a sweep, but close enough.

I take in the smell of Gotham's downtown area. Smells such as beer and spice mixes in with the normal smell of smoke. Strange combination to be perfectly honest. Gotham is not a good city in terms of pollution; it is famous, or infamous, for it's large number of factories and it's amazing production capabilities.

"Focus Nightwing." Batman's sharp, but deep voice cuts me out of my nostalgia.

"Sorry Batman. Just feeling nostalgic is all." I say sheepishly.

He frowns. "Time for that later. For now we need to focus."

Batman's intense focus reminds me of myself when the Titans were just formed. I didn't know how to enjoy myself back then I just focused solely on crime reports and never mingled with the others, some days I was even less social then the team's empath and mistress of magic.

'Getting off track again.' I note to myself. 'Gotta focus, this is important.' I take a look around the main road.

Nothing of note. No robberies, no weapons in sight. Move on.

We take out our grapplers simultaneously and fire across the road. We swing over the busy street and move on to the next spot a few blocks away. The slightly small, but no less busy, road is a bit more grimy than the main one, and seems to house an large number of bars and taverns.

I notice something, or someone, walking around the back of one of the taverns. A dingy joint named The Rampaging Goose.

'God, where did they come up with that name?' I laugh to myself as I swing around the rear of the building to get a better view. Batman follows me silently. We crouch on the rooftop directly behind the offending building and we can see two people talking there.

Batman pulls out a small batarang and places it flat on the rooftop. He pulls out a small control pad and starts clicking away. The batarang starts hovering and turns around. It flies off the side of the building and over the heads of the two figures. The little batarang lowers it's altitude and hides behind a garbage can only a meter away from the oblivious characters.

Batman taps a button on the control and suddenly the audio feed is patched through to my earpiece.

"-will be a few days Mr. Caven." Says a deep gruff voice.

"But I need it now!" Hisses another slightly higher, slightly smoother, but still deep, voice. "I'm gonna start loosing customers if I don't get some more!"

"Sorry Mr. Caven. Nothing we can do, da boss won't give you no more of da stuff per shipment. You gotta deal wit what ya get."

"But last shipment was missing a crate!" Mr. Caven says accusingly. "I've been loyal to the gang, so why are you ripping me off!?"

"Da boss got put in the slammer for a bit, so problems sprang up without him around."

"I don't care if Two-Face got put in Arkham! I want those drugs!"

The audio feed is cut off and the batarang returns to Batman. He puts it away along with the controller.

"I think we've heard enough." He says.

"Let's round up us some scum bags!" I say grinning. I make to stand up but Batman holds me down. "What?" I ask, annoyed.

"We should follow him." Batman says, pointing at the larger man of the two. Presumably the deep voiced one. "He might be able to lead us to Two-Face."

"Oh." I say in a small voice. "Right." I can already imagine the talking to I'll be getting from him later about not thinking ahead.

Batman takes careful aim with a small gun-like weapon and shoots at the larger man. A small light shows up on Batman's visor, indicating that the tracker is functional. I look at him curiously.

"Never hurts to be cautious." Is the explanation I'm given. "Plus, as you put it, we have a scumbag to round up." He points to the smaller man.

A grin makes it's way across my now face. 'At least I get to take down someone.' I think to myself, feeling satisfied.

The two men argue for a few more minutes before the tall one storms off. The smaller one follows him to the edge of the building, yelling all the way.

Batman indicates that I can deal with this. I jump down behind the man and sneak up. I'm inches behind him and he's still yelling his head off about drugs. He huffs angrily and turns around. He freezes in shock.

"Hey there." I say. "What's that you were saying about slipping drugs into your customer's drinks?"

He gulps. He knows this won't end well for him.

And few minutes later we watch as the cops arrive at the tavern and take away Mr. Caven. Apparently SOMEONE (*cough* Batman *cough*) left an anonymous tip about his slipping drugs into his customer's drinks.

With that over, we turn our attention to the tracker.

"Down by the docks." Batman mutters. "Busy man."

"Wonder what he's doing down there?" I muse.

"Let's go find out." Comes the reply, Batman is already swinging away. I take out my grappler and shoot it at a rooftop. I leap off my current roof and follow my mentor.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5 complete. I'm not entirely sure WHY I put in that little conversation with Dick and Tim, just an impulse that I decided to keep. If I mention the Titans a bit too often for your liking I apologize, my primary subject of writing is Teen Titans, so I'm inclined to mention them a lot. <strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

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><p><span><strong>Batgirl<strong>

"We've got a lead on Two-Face." Batman's deep voice comes clearly through my earpiece. "Follow our signal, we are currently at the docks but may need to move."

"Understood." I say.

"Got it!" Tim says, excited.

The two of snap out our grapplers and fire them. We swoop off into the sky. The sun is still up, and won't be setting for a few more hours.

"We have no concealment." I whisper to Robin after landing on a rooftop. "Stay sharp."

"Yes mother." He says. I swear I can see him rolling his eyes beneath his mask.

Refusing to let my irritation distract me, I retract my grappler and fire again. Robin follows suit and we swing up higher than before, staying away from the ground and hopefully out of the view of thugs.

We pull ourselves up to the roof of a skyscraper and look out towards the docks. I check the locater in my cowl.

"Batman and Nightwing are still hanging around the docks. But they're moving around." I note.

"Maybe they're getting bored from waiting for us." Robin nags. "C'mon, let's move already!"

"They might just be following someone." I suggest, thinking out loud. "Or maybe they're fighting."

"In that case we shouldn't be sitting around!" The boy wonder points out.

"Alright alright. We'll get going." I surrender to stop the nagging.

Once again pulling out our trusty grapplers we swing down towards the docks, oblivious to the binoculars watching us from another skyscraper just west of us.

"Twinkle twinkle little bat. You'll find out where Croc is at!" A thug says, smiling behind the lenses. He pulls out a radio. "Batgirl and Robin are on their way Murfey, get everyone ready."

"Tell Mr. J that tonight's event will proceed as planned."

Robin an myself finally arrive at the docks. The smell of fish permeates the air. I plug my nose and wave a hand in front of my face. "

"Yuck." I say quietly. I peer over the edge of the warehouse we are lying on. "I would hate to work here."

"You actually considered working here? Low standards much?" Robin taunts.

"I never said that I considered working here!" I hiss in indignation. "I just said I would hate to, that's all!"

"Quiet you two." We whirl around to see Batman and Nightwing crouching behind us.

"He started it." I whine.

Batman shoots me a glare and I stop complaining.

"That's our man." Nightwing says, pointing out a tall, muscular man in a brown trench coat wearing a beige, wide-brimmed fedora that covers his face.

"Geeze, stereotypical much?" Robin mutters.

"What's he been doing?" I ask.

"Looking at fish barrels apparently." Nightwing says. "God knows why."

"Drug smuggling." Batman says with certainty.

"In fish?" I ask in disbelief.

Batman raises an eyebrow. "The port guards aren't going to look in the mouth of every single fish brought in."

I shake my head. The things people do for money.

We crouch on top of the warehouse for half an hour, watching the man go about his business. Eventually, he stops investigating the damn fish and walks towards us and into the warehouse area. He walks between the warehouses and deeper into the maze of buildings. We follow silently above him.

He stops in front of a particularly run down warehouse. The doors' hinges are creaky, the wood is rotting, and the lighting is shot. He looks around, making sure no one is watching him. We duck down on our roof and his vision passes us by.

He quickly slips into the warehouse and we jump down from our hiding places. We press ourselves against the wall beside the door and Batman peers in.

"Three men, excluding our man. Looks like Joker thugs." He whispers to us. He pulls out a small batarang and puts it on the floor. "Let's listen in."

Using a small controller he directs the batarang into the warehouse.

"I need to get me one of those." Nightwing mutters.

"Shhh." I shush. Why can't boys just learn when to shut up?

"-Mr. J." Says an unknown voice.

"What'd he say?" Says another. Batman informed me and Robin that the voice is our man.

""Be ready at sundown. The show will go on!"" Replies the first voice.

"One of da bats is gonna be put in da spotlight." Snickers yet another voice.

"Should be one heck of a show." Laughs another.

Baman makes a forward chopping motion with his hand upon hearing this. Time to kick some bad guy butt. We all pull out our weapons and split up. We each take a different side of the building.

I crouch under a window, batarang in hand. I wait for Batman's call.

**Batman**

"Attack!" I roar.

I smash through the front entrance of the warehouse and lunge at the group of men within. I'm surprised to see a good twenty other men leap down from the rafters. I hadn't expected that.

Not faltering in my attack, I slam into one of the four men in the center. I quickly whirl around and hit the three others with a rapid series of kicks.

Glass and wood break as my team enters. I can see Nightwing and Batgirl engaging the other foes present. Nightwing attacks with his bo-staff, and Batgirl with bolas and pellets.

I duck as a thug swing a heavy crowbar at my head. I execute a sweeping kick and he falls to the ground. I leap upon the would-be bat smasher and slug him in the head, knocking him out cold.

There is an explosion in the corner of the room as Nightwing takes down his enemies with an explosive disk and follow-up swings of his staff. His dark hair whips around his face as he flips backward to avoid a knife attack.

Batgirl is surrounded by unlucky grunts who are currently squirming on the ground trapped in bolas or frozen by ice pellets. She leaps up in the air and snap kicks an approaching foe. She dashes forward and drives her knee into the man's stomach, winding him, before using a fancy throw to send him flyiny across the room.

The two of them smile as they survey our handiwork. About thirty men in all lay on the floor either unconscious or trapped.

"Was that supposed to be challenging?" Nightwing asks cockily.

"Don't jinx yourself Batman Junior." Batgirl shoots back.

"Hey! I'm not just like Batman!" My first protégé protests.

"Tall, dark hair, obsessive, and no sense of humor. Sounds like you two are one in the same to me." Batgirl teases.

I ignore their exchange as I look around the room.

"What's wrong Batman?" Nightwing's voice cuts into my search.

"Where's Robin!?" I ask urgently.

"He came in to fight, didn't he?" Batgirl asks as much as states.

"I didn't see him the entire time." Nightwing admits.

"Where could he be?" I ask out loud. Worry sets in as I check the locator for Robin's signal. "Nothing!" I hiss. "He's not sending out a signal!"

"Let's check outside." Nightwing says hurriedly. The three of us run outside and circle the warehouse. We come to the rear and find evidence of a fight. An earpiece lies on the ground beside the broken locator chip that used to be in Robin's utility belt.

"He must have gotten taken quickly and silently, before he could leap into the warehouse with us." Batgirl guesses in a solemn tone.

I feel anger and guilt welling up in me. I knew we shouldn't have split up, even if it was only for a few seconds. I even warned against this earlier! And still I managed to screw up by ordering everyone to take a different side.

I punch the wall of the warehouse in frustration. The splinters hurt my hand, but I ignore the pain.

"Batman, sunset is in one hour." Alfred's voice comes over our ear pieces, surprising us. "Any sign of Two-Face?"

"No." I respond, gritting my teeth. "But we know who the next hero on Gotham Tonight is."

"Who?" Alfred asks.

"Robin." I answer.

"Oh my." Is all Alfred can say.

**Gotham Tonight**

"Welcome one, welcome all! It's time for another thrilling episode of Gotham Tonight!" The curtains draw themselves apart to reveal the Joker sitting in his plushy chair. He grins his insane grin.

"Tonight, we bring out a different bat, some might argue he isn't a bat at all, but a bird!" Joker splays the fingers of his right hand over his chest and looks upward, a look of serene curiosity on his face.

"Ahh, how I have longed to find out why bird boy is so tough. I've always wanted to know just how tough he really is!" The Joker's face looses it's curious look and he leans close to the camera so only his face is visible.

"Let's find out just how much of a beating Birdy can take hmm?" He laughs a sadistic laugh. "I've even brought in a special guest to do the honors!"

He stands asaide and motions dramatically to a TV monitor. "Ladies, gentlemen, and all you wailing kids. Just freed from Arkham Asylum, I bring youuu, Killer Croc!"

The Camera zooms in on the TV screen and the view is changed to a direct feed. Killer Croc is standing on the edge of a sewage pipe overlooking the ocean. He bares his teeth at the camera and growls.

"Ohh. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of one of his love bites!" Joker howls hysterically at his own joke and the screen changes back to show him rolling on the floor.

He wipes tears from his eyes as he gets up and continues. "But seriously folks, let's take a look at the battle arena, 'cause this is going to be one of the few fights we can stage as well as this."

The screen changes again to show the inside of a warehouse. The doors and windows seem to be boarded and nailed shut. There are no obstacles whatsoever. One tiny lightbulb hangs from the center of the room.

"You might not be able to tell folks, but under those planks is water! So there's only a foot or two between the floor and a cold wet death! At least for bird boy that is. Speaking of the guy, here he is! Fresh from the kidnapping, we would like to welcome Robin to the ring!" A small hatch in the roof of the warehouse opens and a disgruntled boy wonder in handcuffs is dropped in. He manages to land on his feet. The screen returns to Joker.

"Now I know what you're all thinking." His voice raises in pitch. "But Joker, this fight isn't fair! Robbie can't use his hands and Croc has claws and scales!" He growls, saying "Fine! Whatever will get you to shut up!" He presses a small button on a remote control he pulls from nowhere.

The screen shows Robin again. His handcuffs emit a beep and drop off. He checks his utility belt frantically.

"Keep your pants on bird brain, it wouldn't be any fun to see you squashed if you couldn't put on a show!" Joker's voice rings through the warehouse. "The fight will begin as soon as Croc arrives, BUT I'M NOT TELLING YOU WHEN THAT IS! AHAHAHAHA!" The sound of Joker's laughter fades, and the warehouse is silent.

**Alfred**

It is eleven thirty at night. I watch the television from the batcomputer in faint horror. Batman, Nightwing, and Batgirl have been searching for Robin for hours now, only to be too late. Robin is on Gotham tonight.

"Batman!" I yell, pressing a button on the keyboard. "Gotham Tonight is starting! Robin is still in the warehouse district!"

"On our way!" Comes the response. The line is cut and I slump into the large seat behind me.

"Do win Master Timothy. Don't force tragedy upon us."

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6 complete. <strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Robin<strong>

I glance around nervously. Killer Croc could pop up from anywhere, for there is water underneath the planks I stand on.

I've been standing here for the better part of half an hour now, and Croc still hasn't appeared.

The warehouse I'm in has no cover for me to hide behind, and no upraised areas for me to stand on. This is going to be a tough fight.

I tense as I hear an audible "swish" from the water under me. I lunge forward and narrowly dodge the reptile man that bursts out of the planks below where I was just standing.

"Hello Birdy!" Croc rasps, smacking a fist into the palm of the opposite hand."Time to play dead!"

"I don't think so sewage breath!" I pull out a birdarang and crouch down in a ready stance.

Croc gives a roar. He barrels towards me; scaly hide glinting in the dim light.

I roll to the side and flick the birdarang at him as he passes right by me. I come out of the roll and draw freeze pellets.

The birdarangs bounces off his scales and the freeze pellets don't even slow him. He charges at me again and I leap over his hear.

I'm caught off guard as he abruptly stops and swings around. He backhands me in the stomach and I go flying across the room. I smash into the wall, but quickly get up. I leap to he side to avoid another charge and Croc slams into the wall.

He clutches his head as he shakes off the impact. I glance at the wall. Behind the planks are steel bars. I truly am stuck in here. Seeing my foe thrown off his guard I take two quick steps forward and launch a barrage of kicks.

My kicks do little damage. Croc is knocked back a step by my attack, but that's more due to shock than impact.

"You have no where to fly little bird." Croc laughs. I feel a wave of revulsion as his putrid breath washes over me and stings my nose.

"A shame; 'cause if I could I would be flying to the nearest store for a breath mint. PU!" I mock, holding my nose.

The offended crocodile man lunges at me again. Once more I leap out of the way and launch a counter attack. This time I use explosive pellets.

Still no effect. My attacks are still being blocked by his scaly back.

Scaly... Back! That's it! I've been attacking the wrong part of him. I need to hit him straight on in order to do damage!The problem is that I need to be in his area of vision in order to hit his front side, and that means he can get a lock on me.

Not ideal in the slightest, but what other choice do I have?

I grit my teeth and pull out more freeze pellets.

Croc, who has recovered from his head smash by now, stares at me hungrily, grinning and licking his thin lips.

I backflip to the opposite side of the warehouse and drop into a low stance. I meet his eyes through my mask. I grip the pellets tightly, this is a risky plan.

Croc roars and lowers his head for a charge.

I quickly whip the pellets at him, hoping to slow him before he even starts moving. I quickly pull out anything I can reach, explosive pellets, smoke pellets, birdarangs; everything. I unload my entire arsenal upon the scaled monster.

"Gah, Birdy stop pecking!" Croc raises his arms in front of his face and barrels forward. I jump up in the air as he gets close and leap right over him onto his back. I push off and send him smashing into the wall once again.

"Ohh..." Croc grabs his sore head. "Birdy gonna get chomped for that!" He leaps up into the air and dives straight down, head first. He smashes through the floor and into the water below.

"Crap."

I listen carefully for his movements, but the water is silent. I notice a shadow below me and dive forward. Croc comes crashing through the floor, but he doesn't stay above water for long. He turns around midair and dives right back down into the murky depths.

It's like some horrible parody of whack-a-mole, except the mole is seven feet tall, scaly, green, and is trying to kill you.

I swerve from side to side as I run around, dodging the planks exploding upwards around me. Splinters fly through the air and cut my skin as I rebound off the wall and change direction. I quickly ruffle through my remaining equipment. A smoke pellet, my grappler, EMP pistol, charger...

Lightbulb!

I pull out my small charger, only as big as my hand. It looks somewhat like a small tazer, Batman made them so we could power up small machines even if they had no generator. These things are tons stronger than they look.

"Time to make fried crocodile." I mutter.

I sidestep another of Killer Croc's attacks and swing down into the new hole he broke in the floor. I use my acrobatic skills to swing over to the side of the building, gripping the floor planks with my feet as I hang upside down, holding the charger.

"Birdy has finally come to play with the crocodile?" Croc says from behind me.

I quickly turn around and sock him in the face. He hisses and clutches his nose. I quickly switch from holding the floor planks with my feet to using my free hand. I throw a few kicks at Croc, hoping to force him to back off for a moment.

I succeed. Croc dives back into the water, which is now only a foot or two below me. I work quickly. Hanging from my feet once again I power up my charger and swing over to the metal bars on the side of the warehouse.

"Time for a light show." I grin.

I jab the charger onto the metal bar. The bar starts sparking as the electricity courses through it, and since all the bars are close together the electricity jumps from bar to bar.

The bars also extend partway down into the water. The water lights up as the electricity courses through it. I can see Killer Croc light up like a lightbulb. I also see another glow below the reptile man. It's rising rapidly. It looks like... Fire?

Again I say: "Crap."

**Batman**

We're scrambling around the warehouse district when it happens.

BOOM!

And fireball lights up the sky somewhere to our left.

"What was that!?" Batgirl gasps.

"Not good." Nightwing grimaces.

"Let's move." Is all I say.

The three of us start to move forward, but are forced to take a few steps back as a very bruised and burned Killer Croc comes crashing down from the sky and smashes through the roof a few feet in front of us.

"Soo... I take it Robin won?" Nightwing jokes weakly, looking down on the unconscious criminal.

"Let's hope he's alive to celebrate his victory." I say grimly.

We all run across the warehouse roofs and over to the water's edge. We see a very damaged and mostly blown up warehouse situated over the water. The top of the building has been blown off and there are oil container scraps lying everywhere. There are thick metal bars surrounding the building.

"Robin! Can you hear me?" I call out.

"Batman?" Comes the response, weak and raspy.

"Just hang on!" The three of us climb up to the top of the building and look down into it.

The entire floor has been blown off, save a few wooden planks into the corners, and the walls are scorched or entirely burned away. The water below the building is thick with black oil and charred wood.

"Over here." Robin calls. We turn our heads to see him crouching in the far corner, cloak pulled over his body. "Lucky you made this thing fireproof." He jokes as we navigate our way around the walls and over to him.

I reach down and grab one of his hands hauling him up. I wrap my arm under his shoulders and study my victorious protégé.

He looks like a lobster. His face is all red and some of his outfit has been burned away or torn apart by shrapnel.

"So, I can create fire balls. Does this mean I can call myself Bowser?" Nightwing cracks a grin and Batgirl face-palms.

I sigh. Even when he's half dead he still can't stop throwing those out. "Let's get you home, you are going to off duty for a week. At least!" I say. I try to sound stern, but the relief is evident in my voice.

"Sure! When we get back I cam tell you all about how I kicked Croc's butt!" A maniac grin spreads over his face.

"I would expect nothing less." Is all I can say. I hoist him over my shoulder, and we proceed back the Batcave.

**Gotham Tonight**

"Well that was disappointing." Joker pouts. He crosses his arms and looks away from a small screen next to him. "I was hoping for more blood, more brutality, more death!"

He sighs. "I guess I can't have everything." He allows his face to look downcast for a few moments before lifting his head and putting his insane grin back on his face. "But let's not let that disappointing event ruin our show! Next time I promise a spectacle of the ages! The Bat will make a second appearance, and we all get to see him fight another big baddie!"

The Joker giggles. "Ohhh I just can't wait! Now if you'll all excuse me, I have preparations to make for tomorrow. Toodl-ooh!" The screen goes blank for a second, and returns to the previous program.

**Alfred**

"Do stop squirming Master Timothy, your making this much harder than it needs to be." I chastise.

"But it stings!" He complains.

"You almost got blown up, burned, and turned into crocodile food. Your lucky you don't need surgery and not just a few stitches and ointments."

He huffs. But the pouty expression on his face quickly turns to one of pain as I thread the needle through a particularly nasty cut.

"So, you electrocuted the metal bars, which transferred to the water, which shocked Killer Croc, but you also shocked oil barrels that were lying on the ocean floor. The barrels blew up and Croc got sent flying. You managed to slink into a corner and protect yourself with your cape." Bruce recaps.

"Yep. Sounds 'bout right." Tim says cheerily.

"Do you know how improbable your survival was!?" Barbara hisses.

"Nope."

"Less than one out of one-thousand!" She cries.

"Best odds I had all my life." He says cockily.

Baraba gives up on convincing him of the danger and storms away with a "Hmph!"

I shake my head. "You have a knack for getting out of tough spots Master Timothy." I finished applying some ointment. "There, all done."

"Thanks Alfred." He replies. He hops to the ground, wincing slightly at the pain.

"You're going to be extraordinary sore for the next week or so, I insist you stay home and get some rest, the body is the best healer of them all, but only when it is allowed to do it's job." I explain wisely.

"B-But I have a test! If I miss-"

"No arguments now! Off to bed with you." I shoo him upstairs. He grumbles the entire way.

I wait until he is gone before turning to Bruce. "He really is something else."

"No kidding." He mutters. "That was a risky play on his part. Barbara was right, his chances of living were slim."

"It is not always about the abilities of one to survive, but the will to survive itself that makes all the difference." I say.

Bruce shakes his head. "Ever consider writing a book? "Quotes for everything. By Alfred Pennyworth.""

"You flatter me Master Bruce." I chuckle. "You should get some sleep too. It is well past two in the morning."

"I don't suppose you'll stop pestering me until I do?" I shake my head. "Fine then. Off I go."

He walks up the stairs and I'm left with Richard.

"You as well Master Dick."

"Err... You won't mind if I stay up for a minute or two? I just need to..."

"Write an email? I understand Master Dick. But I expect to see you upstairs in five." I smile at the young man.

He returns the smile. "Thanks Alfred."

I walk up the stairs and out of the cave. I emerge from behind the fireplace. I walk to a chair and slump down into it.

"This was only the second night. How are we to survive more?"

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7 complete.<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Batgirl<strong>

'I need a long term excuse. Dad won't believe that I'm going to Bruce's every night just to tutor Tim, but what would he believe?' I consider my options. No idea springs out as particularly good. I sigh. 'Maybe Bruce will have an idea.'

I sit up in my bed and glance at the clock. 7:00 in the morning. Almost time for school.

But I'm exhausted!

I slump back down onto my bed and groan. 'That's the price of being a hero.' I remind myself. 'You never get a good night's rest.'

I'm surprised to hear the phone ring. So early in the morning?

"Hello?" Dad has picked it up, it's probably just some case he needs to handle. "You don't say?"

"..."

"Hmm..."

"..."

"Well I hate to pull her out of school."

"..."

"I guess that's a good point."

He's talking to someone, but I have no way of monitoring the call. Apparently it's about me.

"Alright. I'll ask her."

Footsteps sound from the stairway. There is a light knock on my door.

"Barbara. You awake?" He asks softly.

"Yes." I say, tired.

"I got a call from Bruce. Apparently he bought himself and Tim a trip to some island. Wants you to come along seeing as how you help Tim so much."

'There's my excuse,' I think to myself. 'Nice one Bruce!'

Out loud I say: "Sounds nice, I can go right?"

Dad chuckles. "Would I have even told you if you weren't?" He turns back to the phone. "Yeah, she wants to go."

"..."

"Yes, she is aware she will be missing school." Dad looks at me as he says this. I nod.

"..."

"Alright, I'll tell her." He hangs up. "The butler will be here to pick you up in fifteen minutes. Bring whatever you need."

I scramble around my room, packing up everything into my backpack. My Batgirl suit, utility belt, bathroom essentials, laptop, phone. I also pack a few pictures and toys. Who knows how long I'll be gone?

I sigh as I finish up. Dad thinks I'm going on a trip, when in reality I'll be risking my life nightly to stop deadly duels set up by an insane lunatic.

What a trustworthy daughter I am.

I push aside my negative thoughts and focus on the job ahead. I pick up my backpack and head downstairs. Sitting down on the bottom step, I wait for Alfred.

It takes a few minutes, but eventually the limousine pulls up beside our small house, shining in the morning sunlight.

I call out "Bye dad!" to my father and rush out the door before he can answer. I hop into the open door and strap myself in.

"Good to see you again Miss Gorden." Alfred says, formal as ever. He slips into the driver's seat and pulls onto the street.

"You too Alfred." I reply. "Man, I didn't think dad would let me go without a fuss; he HATES it when I skip school."

"Actually, your father has asked Bruce if he could help organize a vacation for you several times now. This was a convenient excuse."

I smile. Dad might be strict sometimes, but he's always trying to make me happy. "I presume I'm not actually going on a vacation? Especially not on such short notice."

"Unless you consider running through Gotham every night a vacation. However, Bruce has obtained a Hawaiian phone number so that your father will not be suspicious if he calls, and as a precaution we will refrain from using any unnecessary lights in the manor. The windows will also remain closed. We have already stocked up on food and other essentials."

"Sounds like we're going to be working non-stop huh?" I sigh.

"I'm afraid so Miss Gorden." Alfred sounds apologetic. "This is of the utmost importance after all."

I nod. "Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. How's Tim by the way?"

"If his incessant complaining is any indicator, he's extraordinarily sore."

"Just like you said he would be."

"Indeed."

The rest of the trip passes in relative silence. After twenty minutes of bad traffic we finally reach Wayne manor. The building manages to look somewhat gloomy, even in the morning sun.

"Time to get cracking." I mutter, walking inside.

**Nightwing**

I was reading a report from Cyborg when Barbara walked in.

"Hey Barb, glad ya got here so soon. Maybe you can stop Bruce from driving himself crazy."

She gives me a questioning look. I simply point to the training area.

Bruce is in costume and is fighting one on one with a virtual copy of Bane. He sidestep a charge and pulls out a venom tube from the back of the giant man.

"He's been at it forever. He only got two hours of sleep and came directly here from what I know."

Bruce brings both of his fists down on the back of Bane's head. The simulation ends, indicating that he has won. Almost immediately he starts up another fight with yet another villain.

"And Cyborg says I train too much." I mutter.

Barbara sighs. "I'll see what I can do. You better get to work though, we need clues, leads, anything."

"Sheesh. Yes mam!" I say, rolling my eyes. I'm both amused and irritated by her command.

Barbara walks down to the training area to stop Bruce as I finish reading the report.

No significant incidents, though Mumbo got captured. Crime rate is normal. No major news stories of any concern to the Titans.

I sigh as I close the report and get to work. I've only been back here for a few days and I already miss my friends. If Bruce knew he would almost certainly be on my case about letting my emotions get in the way of work.

I swear, that man is worse than Raven when it comes to dealing with emotions, and that's saying quite a bit. But I suppose it works for him. Despite what others say he has done wonders for Gotham, both as Batman and Bruce Wayne.

"Sometimes I feel like I can't compare to him." I whisper quietly.

"I dare say that might be a good thing Master Dick." Says a refined voice from right behind me. I twist my body to see Alfred standing behind me with breakfast.

"What do you mean?"

"It would be best you don't compare yourself to him at all. You are similar in some ways yes, but the differences make you incomparable. It's like trying to compare a rock to a cloud in a horse race. You just can't do it."

"I'm not sure if that was really deep or just random." I say. "But thanks Alfred."

"You are most welcome." He says as he places down a tray of food next to me. "Now if you'll excuse me I have a cranky bird to take care of."

I grin at this. "Good luck Alfred, you're going to need it."

The old butler chuckles and walks back up the stairs to attend to Tim. I turn back to the computer and search recent news stories for mentions of Two-Face...

And am interrupted by loud shouting.

"Fine! Fine! But you need to stop for a bit!" Barbara yells. Apparently sending her was the right thing to do. I glance over to the training area to see Bruce grumbling as he gets out of his costume. Barbara is already in hers and has taken Bruce's place in the virtual reality training area.

"Sacrifices must be made for the greater good." I grin to myself.

"And you're going to be making a few as well." Bruce is suddenly right next to me, glaring. "After Barbara is finished her three hours it's your turn."

Damnit.

**Batman**

I type away at the batcomputer as Dick grumbles about training. It's kinda funny, he loves training when he's with the Titans, but here he just complains about it. I shake my head. Youths are always irrational.

Beep.

My and Dick's heads whip toward the center screen. The training area turns off automatically and Barbara rushes to join us.

I read the police report. I grimace. "Looks like someone left us an invitation."

"In what way?" Dick asks.

I click a link and a picture pops up. It shows a destroyed playground with a elementary school just behind it, the metal monkey bars are twisted to spell a word.

Iceberg.

"Strange way to leave a message." Dick notes. "Very subtle." He adds sarcastically.

"I guess we know who our next opponent is." Barbara says quietly. "Penguin."

I open up a few search menus and insert a few parameters. Multiple results from magazines pop up.

"He's throwing a party in the Iceberg lounge tonight. Lots of important people will be there." I say.

"He's probably got something planned to force us to come. Probably gonna sabotage his own party." Dick's anger is obvious.

"We'll just have to get there before anyone else shows up. We'll search the place and monitor it afterward to make sure nothing fishy is going on." Barbara says with finality.

"Of course, that means one of us could easily be captured for tonight's fight." I remind them. "Stay alert, I want you two sticking together."

"That way you are the obvious target?" Barbara crosses her arms. "You don't need to protect us Bruce, we are perfectly capable fighters you know."

"Yeah, I've taken down people tougher than Penguin before!" Dick says indignantly.

"You've also been beaten by people substantially weaker than him. I believe there was a mention of you beaten by a guy with a spider for a head?" I glance at him.

"That wasn't a fight! He was running away! Plus, that was years ago!" He complains.

"My point still stands. So I want you two sticking together. Got it?" I engage in a staring contest with the two youths. After a full two minutes they look away.

"Fine." They mutter.

"We leave at six. That leaves us ten hours." I inform them. "Until then, back to work."

Grumbling and complaining, the two return to what they were doing. Barbara powers up the training area and Dick returns to clue sorting.

An hour passes in relative silence. Barbara finishes up her training, and shouts at Dick that it's his turn. Dick mutters under his breath and takes her place in the training area. Barbara sits down next to me.

"Still nothing on Two-Face?" She asks, typing a few queries into the batcomputer.

"Not much. He's staying well hidden." I reply in a hard voice. Barbara is silent for a few seconds as she ponders something.

"I have an idea." She says. Reaching down into her backpack she draws out a sleek black laptop. "Two-Face might be sending messages over social media, probably coded if so. But if anyone can figure that out and maybe trace them, it's Oracle."

"Oracle?" I raise an eyebrow.

She grins sheepishly. "An online persona I use. I've busted a couple criminals just by using a few hacks, my detective skills, and tip offs to the police."

I nod. "Give it a go then. Anything is worth a shot."

She starts searching immediately. Her face strangely serious. I watch her for a few seconds before turning back to the screen.

On a whim I search up Oracle in the police databases. Apparently she has left ten tips along with pieces of evidence that lead to the arrests of several sizable gangs.

Her father would be proud.

I shake myself out of my musings. This is no time to get distracted, I need to prepare for tonight. I lean over the keyboard and start typing away.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8 complete.<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Robin<strong>

I feel like I've been hit with a truck.

Every inch of my skin is red and peeling, and I can barely move due to the ache. Even feeding myself is horrible. Only the lotion Alfred brings once every four hours offers any relief.

I hate not being able to do anything. Monitor duty sitting at the batcomputer would be better than this, but no; I'm unable to contribute anything. A dead weight.

Sighing, I turn my head slightly, wincing at the increased ache, and look at my night stand. There sits my earpiece, where it will lie unused for a whole week. I strain my head a bit further to peer through my closet and to my mystery board, a habit I picked up from Dick. The numerous pins, pictures, arrows, and articles will not be updated for an entire week.

I allow my head to return back to it's original position. I know I should just be happy that I won and lived to tell the tale, but I want to keep helping, keep fighting.

When I get back on my feet, Gotham's supervillains will need to be careful. Robin will have have returned to clean the streets of worms.

**Batman**

"We leave in five." I bark. "You both remember your jobs?"

"Yeah, we remember." Dick scowls, putting on his suit and turning into Nightwing. "We've only gone over this two hundred times."

"We scan the lower levels while you take the upper ones." Barbara recalls, similarly turning into Batgirl. "That's the extremely short version anyways."

I ignore Nighwing's complaints and pull on my cowl. I switch to my Batman voice, saying "keep an eye out for Cobblepot."

"That goes without saying." Nightwing says, hopping on the Night-Cycle. Batgirl does similar, leaping gracefully to land on her Batbike, named such so it would differ from Nighwing's.

I climb into the Batmobile and press a button. The back raises up and expands slightly before opening up. "Drive in." I order.

Nightwing and Batgirl look surprised. "Didn't know the Batmobile could do that." Nightwing says as they drive in the back. It closes up with my two protégés still inside.

"When did you add this?" Batgirl asks in wonder. I can see her inspecting the controls and displays.

"A few months ago." I reply curtly. "Makes a nasty surprise for villain's who aren't expecting bikes to come bursting out of the back, or the roof for that matter."

Nightwing glances down at the ramp that comprises the floor below his bike and grins. "Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun. I should get Cy to put this in the T-Car."

Batgirl snorts and I hit the gas. The Batmobile goes rocketing out of the dark Batcave and into the afternoon sun.

**Alfred**

As the Batmobile exits the cave I let out a deep sigh. Time for me to watch some television. I walk over to the Batcomputer and redirect the news channel to show on the screen. I also start tuning into radio stations in case there is a clue to be found.

"Just your average night of fearing for the lives of your loved ones." I mutter to myself. "I'm getting too old for this." Glancing at the clock I sigh. "Time to make dinner, but I better give Master Timothy more lotion first. Poor lad must be having a horrible time."

Stopping by one of the manor's many closets I pull out a small beige bottle and proceed to Timothy's quarters. I knock on the door.

"Master Timothy, it is time for your lotion. May I enter?" I ask quietly.

"Come in Alfred." Says the young master in a tired voice. I enter to see him exactly where he has been all day; lying in bed, probably bored out of his mind.

"Shirt off." I instruct. He complies, wincing as the fabric brushes the burnt skin. I gently begin to apply the lotion and he gives a sigh of relief.

There is no conversation throughout my entire visit until I've finished and am about to leave when Master Timothy speaks.

"Alfred?"

"Yes Master Timothy?"

"What can I do?"

"About what?"

"About this. I can't stand doing nothing."

I ponder this for a moment. "I'm afraid there isn't much to be done about your current condition."

He sighs, head drooping.

"However, I could use some aid monitoring the radio waves. I'm searching for news updates pertaining to the current situation as well as making sure Joker doesn't decide to expand his audience." A smile lights up his face.

"Anything is better than just lying here." He says. He reaches over to his night stand and grabs his radio, pulling it into bed with him so he doesn't need to move much to change the channel. He also snatches his earpiece. "If you want me to monitor a certain station, just say the word."

"I shall keep it in mind Master Timothy. I shall be back in half an hour with your dinner." I leave the, now heavily focused, boy in his room and make my way to the kitchen.

Glancing at the small television situated in the room I notice a news station informing its viewers that it will have a news story on Cobblepot's party later.

Hopefully it will be a story of daring rescue, and not a tragedy.

**Batman**

It doesn't take long to reach the Iceberg Lounge. I park the Batmobile in an alley a few blocks away.

"Remember the-" I start.

"We know!" My two protégés say in exasperation.

I give them a stern expression. "This is serious."

"We know Batman, but after being reminded a certain amount of times it starts to become rage inducing." Batgirl is exaggerating, though I suppose I have been over it a few too many times.

"Let's get moving." I mutter. We take out our grapplers and get up onto the roof of the building next to us. We rush across rooftops towards our target and leap onto it. "Go." I order curtly. The two nod and hop down the rear of the building.

I watch as they dodge a few guards and slip inside the building. Taking a breath I begin my own mission. Jumping over the edge of the roof, I land silently on a window still. Just behind the window is a guard with his back turned to me.

Quickly, but quietly forcing open the window I slip in the room and stay out of the guard's sight. Looking quickly at my scanner I slip out of the room. No chemicals to indicate explosives.

I repeat this process for each room designated to myself. This is primarily a bomb search, the most obvious way to force us into action is a hostage situation after all, so a bomb threat is completely viable.

The problem is that bombs aren't anywhere near the only option, it could be the guards that will hold someone or everyone hostage, or the guests could all be hired thugs just to draw us out and make us think that they are in trouble when they actually aren't.

I grimace as I consider these possibilities. There are too many for us to account for, we're bound to overlook something.

As much as I hate to even consider it, we might just have to wait for the problem to pop up. That's not to say we won't be trying to stop it by keeping a sharp eye out, but everyone and everything is suspect at this point. We are completely in the dark.

Click.

Damnit.

"Utility belt on da floor Bats." Says the deep voice of a guard. I know he has a gun pointed to the back of my head.

'That's what I get for not paying attention.' I berate myself. Instead of listening to the guard I drop a smoke pellet and dive for cover behind a couch as he starts spraying his shots blindly.

"I've been found out. Double your guard." I hiss into my earpiece.

"You got it Bats." Nightwing replies. "Try and stay alive would ya?"

I don't bother to respond as I hear more guards climbing up stairs or running down the halls to investigate the commotion. I need to relocate.

Noticing the window behind me I quickly break it open and grapple up to the roof. The guards muster the courage to wade through the smoke a moment too late, I'm gone.

"What's going on here?" Cobblepot's voice squaks from inside.

"It was Batman Mr. Cobblepot." A guard says.

"I know that!" Cobblepot barks. "What was he doing?"

"He was jus standin there Mr. Cobblepot. Kinda looked like he zoned out if ya ask me."

"Well I didn't ask you now did I? Now back to your posts, all of you!"

There is a multitude of footsteps as everyone complies. The noise dies down swiftly and there is silence.

It doesn't last very long as a car pulls into the parking lot. The guests are arriving.

"The guests are starting to arrive, get to your positions." I whisper to my two protégés.

"Roger that." Batgirl's voice crackles over the earpiece.

'Now I need to get back inside.' I think to myself, looking at my surroundings with a critical eye. Peering over the edge of the building I see many more windows, but most of them are guarded. I decide to emulate Batgirl and Nighwing's earlier success and slip in through the back.

Waiting until the guards have turned away, I glide down to the ground and slip through the back door.

I enter into what seems to be the storage area. There are several people in the rooms next to me, blocked from view by the beer barrels and fridges of frozen food.

Taking the path through the back of the bar I avoid detection by staying low as I hop over the edge of the bar and into the main room. Luckily, no one has entered yet. Cobblepot is still greeting them.

Taking a glance around the spot Nightwing and Batgirl are expertly hidden, I don't even see them. They are doing a good job. I locate my own hiding spot, a perch closer to the entrance, and slink over to the spot closest to it. I wait for a moment as all the guards mill around upstairs before silently grappling up to my spot when I see an opening.

As I'm settling in, Nightwing comments over the earpieces. "Not your stealthiest effort ever."

I growl and don't dignify the comment with an actual answer.

The guests start filing in to the main room and I scrutinize each one, scanning for hidden weapons or seeing if their actually identity is a reason for suspicion. About twenty minutes pass this way, with nothing of importance making itself know. But at exactly eight twenty-two the situation takes a nasty turn.

As I scrutinize the newest arrival, a feeling of surprise comes over me. The man has a mask over half his face, and the other half belongs unmistakably to Harvey Dent.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9 complete.<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Batman<strong>

"Dent." I hiss to my earpiece. My eyes stay locked on the partially masked man.

"Where?" Nightwing asks quickly.

"Entrance, extreme right." I relay.

Brief silence. Then "We see him. What do we do?"

"Nothing for now. We can't fight him without causing a scene." I say. "Knowing Two-Face, he'll probably be leading us somewhere soon enough anyways."

"If you say so." Nightwing says uncertainly.

I take my hand away from my earpiece and focus back on Two-Face. He is talking to some random partygoers in the corner. As if sensing my gaze he turns his head and glances side long at my hiding place. He turns back a moment later when one of his companions speaks up.

He obviously knows I'm here. I have no choice but to wait for him to make the first move.

And so, I settle into my perch, and watch.

**Gotham Tonight**

"Hello folks! Once again it's time for your favorite show! Where we try to kil- err, I mean where we watch our local heroes fight it out with some of Gotham's top villains!" The Joker says with his trademark grin plastered on his face.

"Tonight we are going party crashing at the Iceberg Lounge, and by "we" I of course mean Batman and his little sidekicks." Joker snickers. "Oh, and what a party it shall be! Little do our flying friends know that there are EMP emitters planted all around the building. Which I will be activating to stop them from getting any outside help." The clown gives a lopsided grin as he holds up a remote with a big red button on it. "On the count of three. One... Three!" Joker jams his finger down on the button.

A small screen next to Joker lights up showing the inside of the darkened Iceberg Lounge. "Time for some action everybody! AHAHAHAHA!"

**Batman**

I keep my eyes trained on the supervillain until I am interrupted by a call from Alfred.

"Master Bruce!"

"What is it Alfred?"

"The show has started! Joker said something abou-" Alfred's voice is cut off abruptly along with all the lights. Someone screams.

"Just calm down folks." Cobblepot says calmly, stepping up onto a table. "This is all part of tonight's entertainment!" The floor below everyone distorts slightly before clearing. Despite that it had seemed to be completely normal wood, it was in truth reinforced glass, assisted by mirrors to resemble wood. "This is going to be a special event, shown live on Gotham Tonight! Featuring your truly!" Cobblepot takes a bow as some of his guests gasp. "I shall be going now. My foe shall enter the arena in a minute or two." The short man waddles out of the room in a manner befitting his villain name.

'That probably means me.' I think to myself. 'He's to vain to fight Nightwing or Batgirl.' I almost try to use my earpiece before remembering the EMP. The only things working seem to be the arena below us and the previously unnoticeable cameras mounted everywhere.

"BANG!" A loud gunshot splits the air, interrupting my thoughts. I look across the room to see Batgirl and Nighwing chasing Two-Face down a hallway and out of the room.

I leap off my perch and grip the edges of my cloak. I glide down to the entrance of the hallway, but it is sealed off with bars before I can go on.

"Come now Batman, were you really planning on abandoning our match? I'm offended." Cobblepot's snarky voice sounds from over the speakers. Looking down through the glass I can see him standing on a pillar at one end of an arena situated below us. I notice how small he looks, the arena must be rather large.

I ignore his taunt and take out acid capsules from my belt. I'm about to break them open and melt the bars when Cobblepot stops me.

"If you don't want to fight me Batman, that's fine, but the lives of everyone else here are forfeit!" The Penguin laughs and I grimace. I notice small red lights turning on all around the room. I put the capsules away.

"This way Bats." A guard says, motioning for me to follow. I comply and notice two more guards fall in behind me. I'm so distracted that I don't notice one of the guests slipping off into another hallway.

Growling quietly, I consider my battle plan.

**Batgirl**

We were watching Two-Face when he suddenly whipped out a pair of pistols and fired a shot at us. We rushed after him and got cut off from Batman, and that's not even the bad part.

Currently we are pinned down behind a few steel barrels in what would seem to be a delivery area. Gunshots echo all around us, provided by Two-Face and his squad of goons that surprised us when we first entered the room.

"It's times like this when I miss my bullet-proof teammates." Nightwing mutters from beside me before pulling out a freeze disk and hurling it over the top of our cover.

"I'm sorry for not being mostly metal, an alien, able to turn into armored dinosaurs, or able to use dark magic." I say dryly.

"You know I didn't mean it like that." He sighs. "I have nothing against you or your abilities. I guess I just miss my team." Nightwing chucks another disk.

"It's only been three days!" I say in exasperation. I toss freeze pellets around the side of our shield and hit a few thugs that had been sneaking around to try and catch us off-guard.

"You can't hide back there forever!" Two-Face calls from across the room.

"Just watch us!" Nightwing calls back. Turning back to me he says "Well excuse me for getting homesick."

"May I remind you that Gotham is your home?" I say, raising an eyebrow.

"May I remind you that Gotham was my home?" He replies, mimicking my raised eyebrow. "I have a new home. Titan's Tower."

I sigh. "I guess people do move on." We stop talking for a few seconds as we beat back some thugs. As soon as we are in relative safety (as safe as one can be with bullets raining down on you) I speak up, saying "We miss you sometimes you know. Me and Bruce."

"Didn't think he had enough of a heart to care."

I scowl. "We both know very well that he cares about all of us. He's just... Overbearing." I admit.

Nightwing grins. "You got that right, the guy's a jerk. I suppose you're also right about his care. I just have a tendency to portray him in the worst possible light."

I nod. "As long as you know." I pull out a batarang. "Now let's beat some scum!"

He grins, pulling out a birdarang to match me. "With pleasure."

From across the room we hear yelling. The gunfire is suddenly turned away from our position. Not questioning our good fortune, we leap over our barrels and hurl our respective boomerangs at separate thugs. We knock the weapons out of their hands and attract their attention. The two of them rush at us while all the others seem to be trying to shoot something behind them.

Nightwing blocks a punch and kicks his thug in the chest before finishing with an overhead smash. I, on the other hand, didn't bother to wait for my foe to strike first. I lunge a meter forward and knock him out with a single punch.

"Duck!" A female voice calls out. Me and Nighwing drop to the floor as a pair of shots are fired, hitting the spots where our heads had been a moment before.

Our assailant, Two-Face, levels his guns at our prone forms and fires. We roll out of the way and pull out batarangs and birdarangs as we get to our feet.

"Game over Two-Face." Nightwing shouts. "Surrender, and maybe we won't beat the good side of your face to match the bad!"

"No can do birdy. I'm needed to make sure the show keeps running, so I'll have to pass up your offer." Two-Face replies in his raspy voice. He presses the triggers of his pistols and we lunge out of the way. Steadying ourselves, we return fire with a stream of projectiles. Dent blasts our attacks out of the air.

"Having trouble there Two-Face? Perhaps you just need to be whipped into shape!" A whip follows the voice coming from behind Two-Face. One of the pistols are knocked from the villain's hands.

Two-Face backs up to a truck parked in the loading area, keeping his remaining weapon steady. "I'll be taking my leave now. I've done what I came to do." He quickly raises his pistol and shoots a shelf just beside us, causing it's contents to topple on top of us. He jumps into the truck and slams the gas pedal. The heavy vehicle goes rocketing out of the building.

"I hear he never did handle pressure well." Says our rescuer, stepping out of the shadows. "Or maybe he just isn't a cat person?" Catwoman jokes, giving us a sly smile.

**Batman**

I'm shown to a small door somewhere in the basement. Looking around I can see numerous pipes and dials.

"Ladies and gentlemen, now entering the arena, my fearsome opponent! The one, the only, Batman!" Penguin cackles as the doors opens and I'm pushed in.

Regaining my balance, I study the arena. The floor is icy, as are the pillars that start to appear about halfway to Penguin, gradually get higher as they approach his side of the room. Between the pillars the ice seems to be cracking. It would be unwise to risk treading there unless completely necessary.

Penguin himself stands on a tall, wide platform at the other end of the room. An umbrella stand next to him holds several of the weaponized rain blockers.

"Do your best Batman, we're performing live! En garde!" The small man hefts one of the umbrellas and unleashes a hail of bullets at me.

I immediately start running towards the pillars in a zigzag pattern, dodging the deadly projectiles. Snapping off a batarang at my foe, I take cover behind one of the first pillars.

The batarang is deflected by the tip of Penguin's umbrella as he raises it in defense. He quickly exchanges his umbrella for a different one. Hefting the new weapon over his shoulder he aims down at me and fires.

The front of the umbrella comes flying down at me. I dive out of the way and pull up my cloak as a shield. The umbrella front impacts the ice where I had just been crouching and explodes. The heat scorchs me slightly, but the main threat, shrapnel, is blocked by my special cloak.

"Just going to cower down there Batman? I'm disappointed. I was expecting at least a little fight out of you." Penguin teases as he pulls back out his original umbrella gun.

"It's not called cowering, it's called intelligence." I counter. "Something you seem to lack."

"Why you!" Penguin hisses, and once again starts shooting at me. "I'll blast a million little holes into you!"

"You need to be able to aim to do that." I taunt, putting a plan into action. "I doubt you could hit the side of a barn from three feet away."

"Gah!' He growls. His shots become more erratic as he tries to hit my agile form. I duck, dodge and weave until I finally hear the sound I was waiting for.

"Clink."

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10 complete.<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Batman<strong>

"Clink, clink, clink." Penguin's umbrella makes a hollow noise as he futility tries to fire it at me. Taking the opening, I leap up the pillars, trying to reach Penguin before he grabs another umbrella.

I'm too slow.

My foe drops his empty weapon and grabs another from the holder next to him. Just as I jump onto his platform he whips around and slashes at me with a spike-tipped umbrella.

"En garde Batman!" He cries. He holds the blade in his right hand and pulls out a second umbrella in his left. This one pops open as he shifts his grip to hold it just behind the top.

'A shield' I guess quickly, leaning back to avoid his strike. I use my right arm to deflect a thrust and jab at his head with my left. My fist bounces of his other umbrella, which was swiftly brought into a blocking position.

I drop low to avoid another slash and swing my legs around to hit Penguin's. He hops over my attack and switches his grip on his blade so that it runs the length of his arm. He brings it up over his head before thrusting downward, burying the point in the floor when I roll out of the way.

I roll to me feet and let loose a backwards roundhouse. Penguin uses his planted umbrella as a poll and swings his body around to bring his shield into position. My foot meets the tough fabric and is stopped cold.

Despite his overweight appearance, Penguin is an amazing duelist. He makes up for his lack of strength and speed with a sharp mind and good foresight.

Penguin punches my extended leg with the shield and pulls his blade from the floor, holding it in a normal position once again.

"A bit rusty, are we Batman?" He taunts.

I growl in reply an unleash a barrage of punches. Penguin expertly blocks with his shield and deflects with his pointed blade. He replies with a flurry of thrusts and slices, along with a number of shield bashes.

Gradually, I'm forced to the edge of the platform. Upon feeling my foot slide halfway over the precipice I push off, jumping over to the closest pillar.

"Hahaha. Can't beat me can you Batman?" Penguin cackles.

I pull out six batarangs and throw them simultaneously. He ducks one, blocks three others, and slashes two out of the air. After my attack is done he quickly plants his blade in the floor and grabs yet another umbrella in his right hand.

"Open fire!" He quips. The point of the hidden weapon spews a stream of fire at me. I bring my cape up in defense. The heat is scorching, but the fire can't beat my cape, much like the explosion couldn't penetrate Robin's.

My body spasms as I fell a current of electricity course through it. My cape slips and the flame burns my side. I leap backwards again and land on a pillar even further back.

Looking at my foe, I notice his shield umbrella lying next to him. In his left hand he holds another new umbrella. The tip sparks with electricity, matched by the flicker of flame coming from the tip of the weapon in his right hand.

'This is bad.' I think to myself as I analyze my position. I can't match Penguin in ranged combat, but he can hold his own in melee, I need an advantage.

My thoughts are rudely interrupted by a blast of electricity that I narrowly dodge with a dive to my right. I almost slide off the edge of the pillar and I grab the edge, pulling myself back up.

"Careful Batman, the ice below the pillars isn't exactly sturdy." Penguin warns with a sadistic grin.

I grimace, remembering the cracked ice on the floor.

My overweight opponent shoots another bolt of electricity at me. I leap to another platform to avoid it.

Pulling out more batarangs, I hurl them towards my foe. He swings his weapons expertly and knocks my projectiles out of the air.

The ones aimed at him anyways.

One of my batarangs hits its intended target: Penguin's umbrella blade, still planted in the floor beside him. My projectile slices through the wood making up the handle, rendering the weapon unusable as it now lacks a grip.

Penguin swears and attacks again with the weapon in his left hand. I dodge the fourth blast of electricity and jump to a pillar closer to my foe. He brings his flamethrower to bear and unleashes a torrent of fire at me.

My eyes narrow against the blinding light and I jump right over the jet of flame and back onto the platform. Penguin drops his electrifying umbrella and picks up his shield. Now wielding a shield and flamethrower, Penguin and myself start a dangerous dance.

Punch.

Sidestep.

Duck.

Uppercut.

Drop.

Leg sweep.

I execute my maneuvers perfectly. Sadly, Penguin does the same. Once again her hops over my leg sweep. He swings the flamethrower in a low arc and I'm forced backward towards the precipice once more.

"Sorry Batman, but when I'm on my home turf, I just can't be beat!" He gloats.

"I beg to differ." I growl, pointing behind the criminal.

"I ain't falling for that Batman." Penguin says, grinning.

I hold up my fingers.

3

2

1

0

The wall behind Penguin explodes as the time bomb I planted during our battle dance reaches the end of it's countdown. The overweight man is sent flying across the room and his weapons are scattered everywhere.

"He warned you." Nightwing says, walking in through the new hole in the wall.

"Nice one Batman." Batgirl applauds.

"Did you catch Two-Face?" I ask; jumping over to the downed criminal and slapping on handcuffs.

"No. He ambushed us in the loading area and got away after Catwoman disarmed him of one of his guns." Nightwing growls.

"Catwoman?" I ask.

"Yeah, we don't know why she was here. She left right after helping, says that the Bat family owes her one." Batgirl reports.

"Typical." I mutter. "Never sticks around."

"Gee, who does that remind me off?" Nightwing remarks sarcastically, giving me a pointed look.

"You would arrest her, why would she WANT to stick around?" Batgirl snorts, putting her hands on her hips.

I sigh. I just can't win with these two.

**Gotham Tonight**

"And Batman triumphs!" Joker announces. "Again..." He finishes with an acidic tone. The clown sighs dramatically. "Would it kill the guy to give these fights a different ending one in a while? I mean, it would only cost him his life."

Joker shakes his head. "I had such high hopes from Pengie too. I was looking forward to seeing Batman skewered by an umbrella, but alas, it seems my dreams will never come true." The lunatic gives a grin. "At least not today. Until next time folks!"

The screen goes dark for a moment before returning to the regular programming.

**Alfred**

"Master Bruce!" I cry upon seeing him best Penguin. "You live! Oh, thank fate."

I take a breath to study myself. I jerk in surprise upon hearing a voice come from the Batcomputer.

"Alfred? Did Bruce win?" Timothy's worried voice crackles over the device.

"Indeed he did." I say, relief evident in my tone.

"Well, I have some bad news." The young master informs me. "Police communications are talking about a number of unidentified vehicles headed for the Iceberg Lounge."

"I didn't know you could get that over the radio." I murmur.

"Only modified radios." Timothy replies. "Can you warn Bruce?"

"Sadly, no." I sigh. "The EMP still prevents me from communicating with Master Bruce."

There is a small silence before he speaks again.

"I hope they'll be alright.",

"Me too, Master Timothy. Me too."

**Nightwing**

We drag Penguin to the front door and switch around his handcuffs so that he is linked to the bar used to open the door.

"We just need to contact the police." Batgirl says.

"EMPs are still active." Batman warns. "We need to get further away."

I hear engines in the distance, they seem to be coming our way. "Guys, we might be having company." I alert them.

Batman listens for a moment before shouting. "Get to the car!"

We take off like shots. We dash down the sidewalk at top speed. Down the road we can see two dark vans driving straight for us. We wince as the sound of gunfire breaks through the air.

"Damn." I hiss as a bullet scrapes my leg. "I hate bullets, why couldn't they use energy blasters?"

"Because they're thugs, not Jump city supervillains." Batgirl replies sarcastically. "Now stop whining!"

The three of us turn a corner and hop into the Batmobile. Bruce slams down on the gas pedal and the heavy vehicle roars to life. Pushing out of the alley we slam into the van which had just reached our position. The unfortunate vehicle flips over as we shove our way past and down the direction it just came.

Looking at one of the displays in front of her, Batgirl yells "We have more on our tail!"

"Why are they after us anyways? I thought the duel was over!" I holler over the noise of the engines.

"Looks like someone doesn't play by the rules." Batman growls. "Prepare to launch, I'll meet you both back at the mansion. Be sure to loose anyone following you first."

We nod and prepare for launch as advised.

"Launch!" Batman says. He slams a button.

The roof of the Batmobile opens up and the ramps below our bikes raise up. We rev our engines and take off, using the angle of our ramps to give us height.

We go soaring over the Batmobile and out in front of it. The strange bulk in the back of the Batmobile shrinks back down to normal proportions as it now lacks it's cargo.

I exchange one last look with Batgirl before swerving to the left down an alley. Batgirl takes a right at the same time.

Batman continues forward.

My ears perk up as I hear one of the vehicles come down the alley after me. A sleek car. Sports car to be exact.

Grinning, I pull out a disk and drop it next to my bike. It hits the ground and lies flat, falling behind me quickly.

And moment later there is an explosion and the sound of an expensive car smashing into a wall. I laugh out loud. I forgot how good it feels to win so completely.

"Whup, whup, whup, whup."

You have GOT to be kidding me.

I look upwards to see a helicopter overhead. Two men on either side aim rocket launchers at me.

"I'd love to play, but it's past my bedtime." I joke. I activate the nitro on my Night-Cycle and speed off. The explosions behind me aren't nearly as satisfying this time. Mostly because they show the helicopter is actually keeping up.

Hissing in irritation, I activate the auto-pilot on my bike and shoot my grappler up at the chopper. It sinks its teeth into the bottom and I pull myself up.

"You picked a bad night to hunt heroes." I growl as I swing into the helicopter.

"On the contrary, I think this is a great night for such activities." Says a man in the back. The masked man steps forward and I recoil.

"Black Mask."

"Nice to see I'm remembered." He says. "But I won't be for long it seems, my remembrance will end with your life!"

He snaps his fingers and the other men in the chopper pull out knives.

"Seriously?" I whine. "Is this all you could throw at me? I take down giant monsters make of bricks and insane magicians every day, and THIS is all you put after me?"

"I don't need much to clip your wings."

I roll my eyes and set about beating the thugs. In a matter of moments they are knocked out. Including the driver.

Oops.

"Looks like your going down, and Batman isn't here to help." The masked man says smugly.

"You know I can just jump out right?" I sigh.

"Go ahead. Try." He says in a confident tone.

I do as he says and try jumping. Metal bars shoot up from the bottom of the doors and seal me in, almost piercing my hand in the process.

"You'll die too if we crash!" I shout.

He sparks and the mask falls off, revealing a screen.

"Doesn't anyone have original ideas?" I complain. "That's been done before, much more effectively too."

"It gets the job done." Black Mask replies.

I shake my head and glance out the window, one second before we hit the ground.

Sighing, I pull out six disks and slams them on every surface. The helicopter crashes and explodes, leaving me perfectly unharmed in my bubble of red goo.

"Disappointing. I was hoping to see you explode." The severed head of the robot informs me.

"Why exactly? It's not like you to just randomly attack."

"You'll figure that out easily. Until next time." The screen goes blank.

I pick up the head and search through it quickly. I remove the tracker and summon my bike.

"Batman will want a look at this." I whisper. Hopping on my bike, I speed off.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11 complete.<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Batman<strong>

"Black Mask..." I mutter to myself, holding the robotic head Nightwing brought back.

"Think he's working for Joker?" Nightwing asks, curious.

"Doubtful, or else he would have waited his turn."

"Two-Face didn't." Batgirl points out.

"He needed to lure you away." I remind her. "Black Mask had no reason relating to Gotham Tonight."

"Doesn't he have some sort of vendetta against you?" Nightwing inquires.

I nod. "Yes. However, a random attack is out of place. It was too poorly coordinated. There's another reason for the attack. We just need to figure out what."

"That won't be too hard." Alfred's voice grabs our attention. We turn our heads to see him walking down the stairs. "He wasn't exactly subtle about his attack, and I'm afraid he's using it to his advantage."

Alfred reaches us and leans over to type a few commands into the Batcomputer. A video file of a recent news cast pops up.

"Today's leading story. Last night Gotham was lit up by gunfire as two motorcyclists were chased throughout the city." And aerial picture is shown depicting Nightwing being chased by the helicopter. However, the picture is blurry, so it isn't clear that Nightwing is the one on the motorcycle. Only knowing Nightwing's account of the situation allows me to realize this.

"The motorcyclists managed to get away, but our city was left with more scars due to the rocket launchers used. These rocket launchers seemingly left a message. One that doesn't bode well for Gotham's future." Nightwing's picture is replaced with another.

Batgirl growls. "They can't be serious."

The picture on the screen shows several buildings ablaze, but that isn't what troubles my protégé. The problem is that the fires form the distinctive shape of a bat.

"Seriously?! The news channels are so stupid that they're buying this?!" Nightwing yells in indignation. "It's obvious that it's a set up! We don't even have a helicopter!"

"People will believe anything they're told." I mutter, more annoyed than concerned. "As long as it sounds even vaguely possible."

"Plus, it's not like people don't already fear us, this changes nothing." Batgirl huffs.

Nightwing sighs. "Fair enough, I forgot I'm not a hero in Gotham. I'm a vigilante."

"Subtle difference." Alfred notes.

"But significant." I add.

Turning off the TV, Alfred rushes us all to bed. "Now off with you lot. Master Bruce, you have a meeting tomorrow bright and early, so no late night for you. You two" He addresses Nightwing and Batgirl. "Are still teenagers, so lots of sleep is needed. Now shoo!"

Alfred coaxes us out of our suits and into our respective beds. I lean back in mine, thinking over the night's events.

So many questions swirl in my head: How many villains will we need to fight? Where is Joker broadcasting from? What's Two-Face's stake in this? Just money?

Giving up on my troubled thoughts for the nights, I allow myself to fall asleep, and slip away from my problems, at least for a while.

**Robin**

I wake up. My entire body STILL aches unbearably, and this is only day two..

Growling, I glance at my clock. 7:30 in the morning. I tilt my head further to peer outside my window. The rain thunders around the mansion, beating down the branches of trees and creating an army's worth of noise.

Yesterday was hell, I stayed in my bed the whole day, writhing in my discomfort. I'm not going to do that today. Alfred might tell me to stay in bed, but I won't. I can't stand doing nothing. If I'm going to be stuck with this ache, I might as well do something productive while I recover. Plus, doing something might take my mind off the ache.

Slowly pulling off my covers, I slip off my bed. My legs aren't too burnt, they were the second most protected part of me aside from my chest area.

My shoulders and neck are another story. They feel like they're super-glued into position.

I don't bother to change out of my pajamas. Light clothing is best at the moment anyways. Opening the door is painful, as it requires me to move my stiff shoulders, but I manage to open it. I shuffle down the hall, making as little excessive motion as possible.

"Just had to be oil barrels down there." I mutter. "Couldn't have been just a couple dozen meters further down the dock."

I crack a grin. "At least I got to cook my first seafood dish." I remember Killer Croc being electrocuted and blasted out of the warehouse.

"Does crocodile even count as seafood?" Dick muses, stepping out from his room.

"No idea, don't ruin my moment." I reply, still managing a painful smile on my peeling face.

"What are you doing up and about? I thought Alfred wanted you staying in bed all week."

"He does, but I'm not siting around all week being useless, no matter how much wants me to."

"That's my little brother." Dick says proudly.

"So what are YOU doing up? I know you're a training nut, but normally you tone it down when you come to Gotham."

"I'm just going to use the computer, Cyborg is keeping me updated on everything that happens in Jump."

"You don't trust your own team to manage themselves without you?" I tease.

Dick blushes. "N-No. Not exactly. I just can't help but worry about them, they're family."

"You mean you can't help but worry about HER." I say, poking fun at his obvious discomfort.

"You're not going to get off my case about that are you?" He sighs in defeat.

"Nope."

Grumbling, he makes his way down to the Batcave. I chuckle and enter the kitchen.

My back feels terrible as I bend down to grab a box of cereal out of a cupboard. My shoulders howl in pain as I reach up to the fridge for milk. I grit my teeth and bear with it.

Having made myself breakfast, I inch my way down to the Batcave to join Dick, grabbing the wall with my right hand and holding my cereal bowl with my left.

Eventually, I make my way down the stairs behind the grandfather clock and shuffle my way over to the Batcomputer where Dick, having donned his costume, was conversing with Cyborg.

"-caught Control Freak, Killer Moth, and Kitten." The metallic teen reports.

"Good work. I assume there were no issues?" Nightwing asks.

"Moth kinda messed us up when he kept blocking our vision with his swarm. Took a good hour to take him down, had to chase him all over town, but otherwise no."

Nightwing nods. "How are the others?" His voice becomes less serious as he asks this, obvious concern seeps into his voice.

"They're fine, mostly." Cyborg smiles. "Star is still feeling down, but we're doing our best to take her mind off it."

Nightwing sighs. "I wish I could be in Jump with you guys, but-"

"Batman and the others are family too." Cyborg finishes. "We get it. Star wouldn't want you to put her happiness over their safety, so just focus on what you need to do."

The homesick Titan nods. "Right. Then I guess I should get going. Same time tomorrow?"

"You bet." The call finishes, and Nighwing stares at the black screen for a moment before his shoulders square and he switches the screen over to the morning news.

"I bet they're still talking about your little fight yesterday." I say, alerting him to my presence.

Nightwing grins and peels off his mask, returning to being Dick Grayson. "Yeah, it's nice that I don't have to worry about negative publicity as much in Gotham. Not many people high up liked the Bat family in the first place."

"Missing your crowd of admirers?" I tease. "All the girl's thwowing themselves at your feet?" I put a finger on my chin despite the pain in my shoulder. "Or MAYBE you just miss Starf-"

"ANYWAYS." Dick interrupts, face red. "What do you plan on doing?"

"Not sure." I admit sheepishly. "But I have to do something. I won't be sitting in my room all day, that's for sure."

He thinks for a moment before stepping up and out of the main chair. "You can watch the news for me then. It might be best that I run through police reports anyways. Perhaps I can narrow down a list of our possible next opponents."

I smile at his thoughtfulness. I won't have to move my shoulders if I'm just watching the news. "I'm on it."

He nods and sits down in one of the side chairs, allowing me to be seated in the main one.

"Let's get to work then." He says.

**Batman**

No matter how much I want to be in the Batcave researching and clue-finding, Alfred's incessant reminders force me to acknowledge that I do technically have a company to run.

That's why, despite my reasoning, I'm sitting in my office at Wayne Enterprises signing paperwork and generally being useless.

'This must be how Tim felt.' I muse, remembering how peeved Altered had been to find the boy downstairs in the cave despite the fact that the old butler thought that he should be in bed, recovering.

"Mr. Wayne" My secretary's voice says over the phone. She sounds panicked.

"What is it?" I ask, voice steady. Something is clearly wrong.

"There's a Mr. Dent here to see you, apparently it's of the highest importance."

My blood chills. "Send him in." I compose myself for what is coming next.

I look calm and composed when Dent steps through the door. His mask from yesterday still covers up the bad side of his face.

"Hey Bruce." He rasps. "Long time no see."

"Indeed, it has been a while hasn't it?" I reply, motioning him to the seat across from my desk. He takes the seat and steels his fingers.

Two-Face sighs. "I wish I could say this was a pleasure visit, but we both know my line of work doesn't allow that."

I match his sigh. "I know Harvey."

"So I'm afraid I'm going to have to make demands of your company Bruce. Gotham Tonight's host insists on it." He looks almost apologetic. One of the few reminders I have that despite his bad side being predominant, the good Harvey still exists.

"Does he now?" I lean forward in my seat, locking eyes with my childhood friend. "You know, you could just tell us where the Joker is, I'm sure I could have him captured."

Two-Face shakes his head. "No can do Bruce. I'm getting too much out of this."

Sighing, I lean back in my seat. "What are the demands?"

He slides me a slip of paper. I pick it up and read. My eyes narrow and my lips form a grim line.

"This is..." I say slowly.

"The Man-Bat formula." Harvey finishes.

My mind spins as I consider my options. I don't want to give Harvey what he came for, but if I don't then my employees might be in danger. I could never forgive myself if their deaths could have been prevented.

"I'll get it for you." I growl.

"I'm gonna have to have someone accompany you." Two-Face says. "You know how it is. Making sure you don't call the police or give me the wrong stuff."

I nod. "Acceptable."

We both stand up. "I've got someone else in the waiting room. I'm going straight out, he knows to follow you. Just give him the stuff."

By this point we're at the door. Just as I'm about to open it Harvey stops me.

"I've given him orders not to kill you, but there's no sayin someone else mighta paid him to do it anyways. So just in case..." He hands me a palm-sized canister of tear gas.

I look at him questioningly. He returns my look intensely.

"Normally I would leave your life up to chance, but I'm making an exception for an old friend." He says softly. With that, he opens the door and we walk out.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12 complete.<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Robin<strong>

"Wayne Enterprises was robbed!" I cry out, alerting Nightwing to the most current news story. Nightwing has his head out of the police reports faster than I can blink and is standing next to me in a flash, listening to the news story intently.

"According to eye witness reports, Two-Face and four thugs pulled up to the front of the building at approximately eleven twenty four. One of the thugs followed Two-Face inside and they made their way up to the company owner's office; billionaire Bruce Wayne."

A picture of Bruce appears in the top-left hand corner of the screen.

"According to Mr. Wayne, Two-Face made demands in order to obtain highly-dangerous chemicals which the billionaire was forced to give him in order to ensure his employees' safety. The police are currently searching for the criminal, but haven't had any success."

Dick shuts off the television. "Well, that's not good."

"Agreed. Bruce really needs to up security." I comment.

He gives me a withering look.

"Security was paid off to ignore him." Bruce's voice sounds over the Batcomputer. "I'm just glad no one was injured."

"What's the plan Bruce?" I ask eagerly.

"I planted a tracker on the goon. Me, Dick, and Barbara are leaving as soon as I return. Make sure she's up."

"Got it." Dick replies curtly and runs off to find Barbara.

"What about me?!" I protest. "I wanna come!"

"You're still injured. While I don't protest you helping out, I can't let you fight in your condition." His tone brokers no arguments. "That means no Robining until Alfred gives you the OK."

"Aww..." I grumble.

"Can you tell me where the thug is right now?" Bruce switches to the other topic suddenly.

"Err, yeah." I respond. I type in a few commands and a map of the city pops up. A flashing green dot on the main street gives me Bruce's location. Three more at the manor show me that Dick, Barbara, and myself are still here, and a solid red dot shows me the location of Bruce's planted tracker. "He's in the industrial district. Hasn't stopped moving yet." I report.

"He won't be leaving the district." Bruce sounds certain.

"How do you know?" I question.

"He's still moving just to throw people off his trail. He is with Two-Face after all, but he won't go far from his intended destination." Bruce explains. "That's how Two-Face works. He always likes to be near somewhere safe when he isn't doing something important."

"Because he's not nearly as crazy as some others we could mention." I mutter.

"True." Bruce admits. A companionable silence follows the exchange before Bruce speaks up again, surprising me; I honestly thought he had hung up. "Tim. I have a job for you. Something you might find interesting, something the others won't take seriously, but I know you will."

"What?" I'm breathless. Bruce is trusting me to do something! Something he thinks only I can do!

"Open up the criminal database." I do as he says, a list of all known villains pops up. The list has more entries than even the Justice League database houses. "Down in the bottom-left there should be a text bar." I locate it swiftly. The bar is so tiny I would have passed it over if I didn't know it was there. "Enter the letters BRBJT." I do so. A new screen pops up, one I have never seen used before.

"Do the others know about this?" I whisper.

"No." His voice is also quiet. "They wouldn't care much anyways. Take a look at the files."

Scanning the files I notice what he is talking about. "In-depth psychological profiles?"

"Yes. Every single little thing I have found out about any given villain. I don't use the profiles much, but I always keep them up-to-date."

"What do you want me to use them for?" I inquire. I'm curious what use Bruce has for them.

"I need you to go into Two-Face's profile and tell me what he likes and dislikes."

Talk about a weird request. "Uhh... Sure." I open the appropriate file, and am blown away at the sheer amount of information on it. The file includes every single video file, picture, and newspaper report ever made including Two-Face in it in some way.

In short, there's a lot of useless junk in there.

"He likes... Coins, cards, opposites..." I go on to list an entire page's worth of information. Keep in mind I'm reading normal sized text on the Batcomputer. That's quite a sizable amount just on Two-Face's preferences.

"Hold up, did you say shoes?" Bruce inquires, stopping me suddenly.

"Uhh... Yes." I say. I feel quite foolish doing this. What possible point could there be to knowing what Two-Face likes?

"Perfect." I can hear the grin in Bruce's voice.

"You have a plan?" I ask wearily.

"Yes."

"Was that all you needed?"

"As of now; but feel free to look at the files all you like. You might find them more helpful then me. You were always quite the little detective." His voice is strangely proud. Not to mention his praise is quite out of place. "Me and the other two will be leaving almost as soon as I return. I'm going to need a suggestion partway through the mission though."

"About what?"

"Two-Face."

"Vague much?"

"Just look through his file. When I ask for help, I have confidence that you'll be able to provide it." Bruce hangs up an instant later. Leaving me very confused.

"Shoes? Asking for help?" I ponder my strange exchange with my adoptive father. "I wonder if Bruce is getting sick." Deciding to worry about it later, I focus my attention on Two-Face's profile.

Time to go dumpster diving.

**Batman**

I wouldn't be surprised if Tim is terribly confused at this point, but that is to be expected considering my uncharacteristic actions. I was being honest when I said no one else would take it seriously, even I don't sometimes. The psychological profiles seem like a waste of time.

But every once in a while they yield gems. Just like the fact that they reminded me that Two-Face has a thing for shoes.

How is that important?

Criminals like Two-Face can't just waltz into a shop and order things. So they need someone else to do it for them. I can use this knowledge to locate one of his goons and follow.

I have a tracker on one goon already, but there's no saying that that specific goon is even around Two-Face anymore despite what I told Robin.

But if a goon is sent to buy shoes then they'll give it directly to Two-Face afterwards.

Shoes will need to be bought frequently, because Two-Face likes everything to be shiny and new. I can use this to my advantage.

Now it's just a matter of deciding which shops to stakeout, and who to send to check the tracker.

I pull up to the manor and step out of the limousine. Rushing inside, I quickly go down to the Batcave to find Nightwing and Batgirl ready to go.

"Nightwing." I bark, walking over to the changing area. "I need you to check the tracker, see if the goon is still around Two-Face. When you're done report in for more orders."

"Got it!" Nightwing calls. He rushes over to the Night-Cycle and speeds out of the Batcave.

"Batgirl." I say.

"Yes?"

"I need you to keep an eye on Mark's shoe shop. Watch for someone purchasing black and white designer's shoes. If someone does purchase them, follow and observe. Alert me immediately."

"On it." The redhead salutes. She climbs aboard her Batblade and takes off.

"What about you Batman?" Tim asks from his seat in front of the Batcomputer.

"I'm going to be watching the shopping district. There are multiple shoe stores there."

"Why did you send Batgirl to only monitor one?"

"That specific store is the only one that sells designer shoes outside the shopping district."

"Oh."

I mount my Batpod and put on my helmet. "Keep me updated on news reports, and anything you think might be even slightly helpful in finding Two-Face."

"Roger." He responds. His hits a button and part of the screen is filled with the news channel. The other half still shows Two-Face's psychological profile.

I start the Batpod's engine. I shoot down one of getting many paths leading out of the Batcave and am soon faced with open air.

**Robin**

I sigh upon seeing Batman leave. I hate being the only one left behind.

"Well, there's nothing I can do about that." I mutter. "Might as well look through the profile."

Easier said than done. The profile is absurdly large, and would probably take me the better part of a week to look through. The amount of garbage in here is mind-boggling.

"Who cares if he hates tofu?" I mutter, reading through the "dislikes" portion of the file. "How is that supposed to help us?"

Sighing, I start searching through relevant video files. This includes every single moment he spent in Arkham thanks to the security cameras planted everywhere.

There is over 200 hours of just him sleeping. Just sleeping!

I guess I do know why these profiles are important. It's just that they're annoying to go through, but I shouldn't complain more than I already have. Batman said he'll be counting on me, so I can't let him down!

With this in mind I get down to serious business. I won't be getting through everything, but I'll be dammed if I let that stop me from helping!

**Batman**

I sit on the lower ledge of a rather large building, shielded from view by a gargoyle. Looking downwards I can see the entirety of the shopping district. I can see every single person down there.

I sigh and get comfortable. I might be out here all day with no success whatsoever. There's no guarantee that Two-Face will actually send someone to get him new shoes every day, it just seems likely.

"Nightwing, reporting." Nightwing's voice crackles over my earpiece.

"What is it?" I whisper.

"No luck. Tracker led me to the goon, but he wasn't with Two-Face anymore."

I nod. "Expected. Come and join me in terms shopping district. It's time for surveillance."

"Joy." Nightwing's sarcasm is thinly veiled.

I turn my attention away from my earpiece to stare back at the district. I've got ten different locations to monitor, when Nightwing gets here I'll only have to watch five, but even that is quite a few. I need to watch for someone buying one black shoe and one white shoe.

Not easy at all considering I'm perched five floors up.

I shake my head.

This is going to be a loooong day.

The only spot of interest all morning is when Nightwing finally arrives. I point out which shops he needs to monitor and what we're watching for. He nods and finds a perch on the opposite side of the street from me.

Periodic reports from Batgirl come in, each say the same thing.

"Nothing to report."

Shaking my head, I glance up at the sky. The sun tells me that it's not even noon yet.

Take my word for it. Stakeouts are no fun whatsoever.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 13 complete.<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Batman the Animated Series.**

* * *

><p><span><strong>Nightwing<strong>

This is sooooo boring.

I've been sitting here for hours and NOTHING'S HAPPENED. Very few people are actually buying shoes, and no one has even come close to buying the ones we are watching out for.

I'm seriously starting to doubt Batman's plan. I mean, come on! Watching people buy shoes? This seems like a shot in the dark.

It doesn't help that Batman won't let me get lunch.

I grin ruefully, remembering when I used to be as serious as this. I have Slade to thank for that. Now I need to rekindle that focus, but that isn't as easy as you might think.

"Batgirl reporting." Batgirl says over her earpiece. She sounds as bored as I am. "Nothing to report, again."

"Understood." Batman replies curtly.

Batgirl sighs. "Do you think we'll even get a lead today?" She questions tiredly.

"Possibly." Batman responds. "Two-Face keeps a schedule. So we might just be here at the wrong time. That's why we're staying all day."

"Joy." The redhead mutters before going silent.

The day drags on as we wait. I constantly shift in my spot, trying to stop my muscles from cramping. I occasionally glance over at Batman's spot, only to see him crouched in the exact same position.

'I wonder how Batgirl is doing.' I muse idly. "She's probably still as bored as me.'

**Gotham Today**

"Well hello there ladies and germs!" Joker says, walking on screen. "I know that this is unexpected, but we had to change our scheduling minorly to fit in this next fight." He starts snickering. "I do love a good catfight!"

He laughs and motions to the screen behind him. "Two redheads will fight it out; the nimble Batgirl, versus the deceptive Poison Ivy. Let's look on in, shall we?"

**Batgirl**

I'll be honest. I was wishing for some action, but this is NOT what I had in mind.

I had been sitting in my perch for hours on end, bored out of my mind, until my earpiece got speared by a crossbow bolt. I mean, honestly, who uses crossbows any more? The answer: Poison Ivy. I forgot about her.

And so, that's how I ended up being chased across the rooftops by a deranged florimaniac. Fun right?

Nope.

"I thought the fights only occurred at night!" I complain as I leap to the next roof. I touch down and roll to minimize the shock.

"Special exception. My plants need sunlight after all." Ivy calls from behind me.

"You're plants aren't even around here!" I point out. I leap off the precipice of my current rooftop.

"Why do you think I'm chasing you?" She says coyly.

I look down at where I'm about to land. A greenhouse.

Damnit.

I shield my face with my cape as I break through the glass roof. My boots crunch on the shards when I land on the floor. I fell right into that, literally.

I'm about to pull out my grappler to raise myself out when a giant leaf covers the hole in the ceiling. That's just great. Now I'm stuck in a greenhouse, probably full of deadly plants, with a psychotic eco-terrorist.

I kinda wish my day had stayed boring now.

I hear a door swing open and Poison Ivy's voice rings out through the greenhouse. "Time to play Batgirl. I do hope you enjoy the decorations. I spent so very long growing them."

"I hate to be the badguy, but I'm going to have to play a game you probably won't like." I say sarcastically. "It's called "Weedkiller"."

I pull out a pair of batarangs and start hacking at the nearest plants. I can't afford to fight Ivy on her own terms. It's times like this that I wish I kept some larger weapons in my utility belt. Or some chemicals, that would work too.

I duck as a crossbow bolt flies over my head. The thin slice of wood embeds itself in a tall plant behind me. Realizing my own stupidity, I pull out smoke pellets and scatters them around me. They burst into a massive cloud of light-grey smoke.

Pulling out more pellets, but of a different kind, I hurl them at some of the larger plants still visible to me thanks to special filters in my cowl.

The two-story tall plants topples as my pellets explode and destroy their stalks. The massive celery-like plants almost crush me and I dive out of the way last minute.

"Stop killing my babies!" Ivy shrieks. Another bolt flies past my ear as I twist to avoid it. Unfortunately for me, I didn't pay attention to where I stepped when avoiding the shot. A plume of spores rise into the air as I crush an odd looking mushroom.

'Now I've done it.' I think to myself, panicking.

Sure enough, only seconds after I inhale the spores I start seeing things. First, a giant octopus comes to my attention, squirming about in the trees. Then a monstrous sludge creature makes itself known to me by rising out of the ground only meters away.

I sigh mentally. 'Geeze. I must have a more vivid imagination than I thought.'

Something else catches my eye. It looks like a red-haired girl pointing some sort of weapon at me. My eyes widen as I realize what that is. I drop to the floor just in time; Poison Ivy misses yet another shot.

Pulling out a freeze pellet, I throw it at the redhead. She hops out of the way and my pellet bursts on another tall plant, coating its stalk in ice. I continue to pull out and throw projectiles from my utility belt, hoping to stall Ivy long enough for the mushroom spores to wear off.

It doesn't take long before I begin to run low on ammo. My pouchs are rapidly emptying, and I have no way to refill them. The spores' effects begin to weaken, and my hallucinations start to disappear. Sadly, I'm out of everything but one smoke pellet, two batarangs, and my grappler. My charger got broken by one of Ivy's bolts when I narrowly dodged another shot in the midst of my barrage.

"Poor little bat." Poison Ivy coos. "Her wings are clipped, and she's almost out of things to throw, but don't worry, I still have a use for you. You'll make good food for one of my larger plants."

"I can find my own employment thank you very much." I hiss. I crouch as Ivy loads another bolt into her crossbow.

"I never thought of being food as a job, but your welcome to see it however you want. After all, you'll be dead either way." The girl half-snarls, half-grins at me. A truly odd expression to say the least.

I narrow my eyes at her and poise myself to spring. I need to close into melee range and take her down. The main problem is all the flora in my way. Who knows what other nasty surprises await me curtsy of the vegetive abominations Ivy had amassed.

Speaking of Ivy; she is currently hiding behind a medium-sized plant with large, orange leaves and a navy-blue stem. I'm not sure if I want to know what that one does. She still has her crossbow leveled at me.

Leaping forth, I gain maximum height for my jump and use my grappler to swing myself up and over Ivy's plant shield. I land just behind her and strike at her with a roundhouse kick. She ducks the attack and brings her crossbow to bear. I use my metal bracers (you can't see them beneath my gloves, but every bat family member wears them) to deflect the shot Wonder Woman style.

I'm lucky she's not using a pistol, or my bracers wouldn't be much help.

Reaching forward, I try and grab my foe but fail. Ivy jerks backward to avoid my attempt and swings around to knock me away me with a powerful back kick. I'm hit in the stomach and stumble backwards. She quickly reloads her crossbow and we're at a stand off.

She can't shoot or else I'll block and lunge. I can't lunge, or else she'll just dodge and shoot an unprotected spot. Neither of us dares to move... Much.

Remember that smoke pellet I said I had?

The area becomes filled with dense smoke and Ivy coughs, trying to stagger out of the affected area. I, on the other hand, slip a filter over my mouth and eyes. I locate the redhead's silhouette and pounce on her.

We roll about on the ground, punching, kicking, and scratching. Anything to win. Luckily I have years of training and superior physical abilities of my side. In the end, Ivy is no match for me and falls unconscious after a particularly well-aimed jab to the head.

I pick myself up out of the dirt. My costume is covered in grime. Brushing myself off, I throw Poison Ivy over my shoulder and look for a way out.

**Gotham Today**

"Honestly, I was hoping for a longer fight." Joker sighs, looking disappointed. "More yelling, insults, SOMETHING."

The clown looks at the camera and grins slightly. "But hey, there's more fun to make up for it tomorrow night. Make sure to tune in or you'll miss the fun!" The prince of crime laughs his hysterical laugh. "It's going to be a complete zoo!"

The screen goes blank for a moment before returning back to it's normal programming.

**Robin**

"-and then I knocked her out. It was incredibly irritating, I have dirt all over my costume," Batgirl complains. "and now I have to explain to Bruce why I wasn't at my post or responding to my communicator."

"Heh. Dick was just whining about not getting any action." I laugh. "As for Bruce, I wouldn't worry. He's overbearing, not completely irrational."

"You do realize I can hear you." Batman's deep voice says from the Batcomputer. "I am NOT overbearing."

"Yeah sure, and I'm Uncle Sam." Nightwing snorts, joining the conversation.

Batman growls. "Not now... We still have work to do. Batgirl, get back to your post as quickly as possible. You got a new communicator already right?"

"Of course." Batgirl says. She fidgets with the earpiece for a moment as she mounts her Batblade. "Hopefully I didn't miss anything since I had to return to the Batcave."

"It was unavoidable." Batman responds, oddly reassuring. "Robin!" He barks suddenly. "I need your help."

"What is it?" The boy wonder responds.

"Remember how I asked you to look through Two-Face's psychological profile?"

"Yes."

"Gotham Tonight's fight has already happened today, so I'm leaving Dick at the main square and going to look around alone. I need a suggestion on where I should go. Dick is right, just waiting around won't get anything done." He explains.

"Hmm..." I ponder the options based off what I know about Two-Face. "Somewhere high end, possibly abandoned, not to tall of a building..."

"There's an abandoned restaurant near the old docks." Batman suggests. "Would that work?"

I nod to myself. "Possibly, but something along the lines of a casino would fit better. Dent has an obsession with chance after all."

"Good call." He praises gruffly. "I'm leaving now. I'm sure you'll find a way to make yourself useful."

Batman severs the connection and I sit back. Looking around, I notice that Batgirl has left. Looking at the clock, I note the time. 7:30 PM. Only a few more hours until stores begin to close and Batgirl and Nighwing can return home.

That gives me two hours to study.

I pop open the list of profiles and look through them until I find the one I'm searching for. Pressing on the one labeled "Matt "Clayface" Hagen" I start reading and learning.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14 complete.<strong>


End file.
